Programmed Lives: Final Stage
by Sanae
Summary: Kyosuke, Seisuke and the rest of the gang realise that, growing up and becoming adults usually means bigger problems too.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Initial D, Shigeno-sensei and the Kodansha Publishing Company do.

The Kizuna Ethridge name and character belongs to fellow Initial D fanfic author SouthSideSlider.

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Prologue_

After the almost thirteen hour long flight, Hiroki's neck was rather sore and the twenty year old could not wait to get out of the plane so he could stretch out properly before he would meet up with his father so that the two of them could drive back to their home in Tochigi's capital city.

'Hey, come on, you're not that tired, are you?' he heard Kyosuke ask and that made him look to his left where the older guy was sitting sandwiched between Hiroki, who was sitting at the aisle seat and Kizuna, who was at the window one.

'Yeah, I am, why?' Hiroki replied as he stifled the umpteenth yawn.

'Because we still have to go through the press conference,' Kyosuke replied smirking at the younger man.

'What? Again? Didn't we have one at the end of the race?' Hiroki asked raising his eyebrows in surprise.

'Yes, we did,' Kyosuke replied smirking even more, 'this one is for the national press, for the journalists who couldn't go to Melbourne.'

'Do I really need to go? I'm dying to get back home so I can get some sleep,' Hiroki begged.

'Nope, sorry,' Kyosuke said, 'they want the whole team to be there for the pictures.'

'Great: pictures,' Hiroki complained, 'that's exactly what I need after thirteen hours of insomnia,' he added sounding rather miserable.

'I know what you mean,' Kyosuke said and that made Hiroki realise that, from the whole team, they were the only two who were still awake for the rest of the guys were all sleeping rather soundly, including Akito who had Ryoko leaning her head on his left shoulder.

'He's so lucky,' Hiroki commented pointing at Akito with his thumb.

'He is,' Kyosuke agreed, 'but again, I think he can sleep almost everywhere as long as it's warm enough.'

'I'll take your word for it,' Hiroki replied and as he was about to say something else they heard as the flight attendants started waking everyone up so they would fasten their seatbelts and prepared themselves for landing.

Fifteen minutes later at nearly eight o'clock pm, the JAL flight from Melbourne touched down at Narita International Airport and they barely had the time to get their bags when an airport officer ushered them towards one of the small lounges at the Arrival's terminal. There they saw a long table placed in front of a horde of journalists ready to start firing their questions at them:

'Fujiwara-san,' one of them shouted shoving his mike towards Fujiwara Takumi, 'do you think your team will be able to keep such great results up throughout the whole season?'

'Er…' Takumi started.

'It's much too early to ask us that,' Keisuke replied instead, 'we still have seventeen races to go.'

'It looks like your number one driver has completely recovered from the accident which saw him retiring from the previous season,' another journalist fired at them.

'Yes, he's very much back in shape,' Keisuke replied.

'What did you think of the performance of the PIAA-Tanaka Team's new driver?' a reporter from the back of the room asked looking straight at Akito.

'He's very fast,' Akito replied, 'so we're not going to underestimate him.'

The whole press conference was over in just under half an hour, time during which no one asked Hiroki a single question making the twenty year old as though as if he had just wasted twenty minutes of his life.

'It's okay,' he heard his father say as the two of them drove back to Tochigi's capital city.

'What?' Hiroki asked feeling rather confused.

'The press conference,' Tohru replied for he had witnessed how the reporters had ignored his son in a very blatant manner.

'What about it?' Hiroki asked making his father look at him with an equally puzzled expression.

'Well,' Tohru started, 'the journalists…well…they seemed…'

'Dad,' Hiroki interrupted, 'I know that they pay loads more attention to Akito than they do to me but I don't mind.'

'It won't always be this way,' Tohru assured his son.

'Oh, I hope it will be,' Hiroki replied and seeing his father's bewildered expression made him add, 'I'd hate to have the all the journalists focus on me the way they do to Akito. I honestly don't know how he can stand it…'

'It can't be too easy,' Tohru agreed, 'in any case, I'm glad to see you two are friends now.'

'What?' Hiroki asked, going back to being confused, 'I'm not his friend. I can't be.'

'Son, I know that before anything else he's your best enemy and all.'

'No Dad,' Hiroki said, 'that's not it.'

'What is it then?'

'Nothing,' Hiroki replied, 'you wouldn't understand.'

'Hiroki…' Tohru insisted.

'Dad, please, just leave it, okay?' Hiroki said then, hoping that his father would take the hint he rested his head on the car's headrest and closed his eyes.

Unfortunately, that simple action made him revive the intense angst of the moment when, not too long ago, he had realised something that he knew it could mean the destruction of the Takawara Racing Team.

Startled by this Hiroki re-opened his eyes and as he looked through the window, he let out a tired sigh and renewed once more his firm resolution to keep it a secret from everyone. Because there was no way on earth anyone could ever find out that he, Suetsugu Hiroki, had fallen head over heels in love with Takahashi Ryoko.

_To be continued…_


	2. Chapter One

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter One_

A few days after the Takawara Racing Team's highly successful debut race, fifteen cars could be seen parked near the summit of the Mt Akagi pass with all of their drivers gathered outside them enjoying the slightly less cold evenings that the month of March had brought with it.

'Hey,' Masato whispered tilting his head towards Seisuke, 'where's Kizuna?'

'No idea,' Seisuke replied shrugging his shoulders, 'Aniki didn't even answer when I asked him about her.'

Masato looked at Seisuke as though as he wanted to say something but Izawa interrupted him shouting as he spoke to the whole group.

'Guys, have any of you heard anything about that Kanto Kaisers team?'

'The what?' Masato asked him.

'I've heard of them,' Junya said, 'they're a bunch of ex-professional racers who have got together and are challenging all the teams from our region, aren't they?'

'Yeah, they've already beaten quite a few teams from the Chiba prefecture,' Izawa replied, 'I've heard they'll be moving to Tochigi next.'

'What?' Seisuke almost screamed.

'Hasn't your girlfriend mentioned anything about it?' Junya asked him.

'No, I guess she hasn't heard anything yet either,' Seisuke replied then, looking at his older brother he added, 'Aniki, what are we going to do?'

'Nothing,' Kyosuke replied seeming very resolute.

'What do you mean, 'nothing'?' Akito asked.

'I mean just that,' Kyosuke replied, 'we won't worry about it until the time comes.'

'Aniki, shouldn't we plan some sort of strategy for when we'll be challenged?' Seisuke asked looking both confused and astounded.

'No,' Kyosuke replied shocking Seisuke even more, 'planning that far ahead it's useless.'

'Wha…'

'Seisuke, I said we're not going to worry about it, okay?' Kyosuke said interrupting his younger brother.

'S-sure…'

'Good, now, let's all go and get some practice, after all, that's the whole point of us being here.'

With that, he climbed into his yellow RZ-1 and without waiting to see if anyone followed him suit, he turned his car's engine on and took off heading down the Mt Akagi pass.

'Phew,' Akito said tilting his head to the right watching the rear of the Mazda as it disappeared around a corner.

'Geez, what is the heck is wrong with him?' Junya asked to Seisuke.

'I don't know, I'll try to talk to him later but I don't think it'll be of any help,' Seisuke said shaking his head miserably as he, too, climbed into his white RZ-1, a slightly newer version of that of his brother.

'Oh well, let's go then,' Akito said copying his best friend and getting behind the wheel of his beloved V-86.

'You know,' Masato said as he observed the two cars driving off, 'if you ask me, Kyosuke and Kizuna have had some sort of argument.'

'Give it to me,' Izawa said talking to Junya.

'Give you what?' Junya asked his team mate confusedly.

'The Captain Obvious badge,' Izawa replied, 'Masato here has more than earned it.'

This provoked a fit of laughter to some of the Golden Arrows while the rest just climbed into their rides as they followed their three best drivers down the hill.

A couple of hours later, Akito followed Kyosuke and Seisuke to their house in Maebashi where he would spend a short while with Ryoko before he would go to his own place.

'Aniki,' he heard Seisuke ask the minute all three cars were parked in front of the Takahashi's massive garage gates.

'Seisuke, not now.'

'Aniki, please, what's wrong?' Seisuke insisted nonetheless.

Kyosuke looked at both his younger brother and Akito and lowering his head, he sighed and said:

'I can't tell you now, just give me some time, okay?'

Seisuke looked at Akito and seeing the younger man's nod made him realise that, for once, they really needed to stay out of it.

'Okay,' Seisuke said, 'but if you need to talk, you know we're here, don't you?'

'Of course,' Kyosuke said then, as he locked his RZ-1's doors he added, 'thanks guys,' he then walked inside the house most likely heading straight into his room.

'Don't worry about him,' Akito said putting a hand on Seisuke's shoulder, 'we'll find out what's worrying him sooner or later.'

'Yeah, I think so too,' Seisuke agreed, 'oh well, I better go and call Misa, I'm curious to see if she's heard about those Kanto Kings.'

'Kaisers,' Akito corrected him, 'they're called the Kanto Kaisers.'

'Whatever,' Seisuke said going back to his cheerful self, 'it's a very silly name.'

'Yeah, it is,' Akito agreed and, with this, the two young men finally entered the Takahashi residence chuckling.

'Someone's happy,' they both heard Ryoko say as she rushed to the house's entrance to go and hug her boyfriend.

'I am happy to see you,' Akito said returning the hug. He then smirked as he saw Seisuke making a mock disgusted face at him as he bypassed the couple on his way to the living room.

'Guess what?' Ryoko asked, clearly oblivious to the whole exchange.

'What?' Akito replied separating from her just enough so they could look at each other in the eye.

'I've got myself a part time job,' she announced making Akito raise his eyebrows in surprise.

'A part time job? I didn't know you needed one.'

'Well, I don't really need one,' Ryoko replied, 'but this is a very special one: I'm going to be teaching young kids to ice skate!'

'Ryoko…' Akito said looking at his girlfriend worriedly.

'Hey,' she started, 'it's not like I miss it or anything. You know that I'm busy enough with university, your races and helping Mum with the centre but they needed someone very badly and I couldn't resist.'

'Hey,' Akito said, 'you don't need to explain yourself with me. If you're happy then I'm happy too, okay?'

'Really?' Ryoko asked.

'Yes,' Akito said, 'besides, I've been worried that you didn't have any proper hobby of your own.'

'Oh but I do have a hobby,' Ryoko countered, 'I'm your number one fan, remember?'

Akito laughed softly before hugging her again and, using his softest tone of voice, he said:

'I know that.'

'Good evening,' they then heard Ryoko's father deep voice as Keisuke walked towards them.

The girl looked at her boyfriend proudly as he, in the maximum expression of defiance possible, refused to let go of her hand even in the presence of the man who used to terrify the life out of him.

'Hi,' Akito said.

'Aren't you two going to come in?' Keisuke asked him looking at the two held hands with a smirk on his ageing but still very handsome face.

'Sure,' Akito replied and with that he took his shoes off and he and Ryoko followed Keisuke into the living room where they found Seisuke already watching TV with his aunt Kyoko. The other Takahashi couple was probably at one of the hospitals the family ran.

'Hello Akito,' Kyoko said as Akito and Ryoko took a seat at the couch, 'we've seen your sister at the centre today.'

'She's very fast,' Keisuke added as he too took a seat.

'I know,' Akito said proudly, 'she's actually faster than I was at her age.'

'It's a pity though,' Keisuke continued clearly talking without thinking first.

'What is?' Akito asked noticing the glare Kyoko had given to her husband.

'Er…'

'Nothing, don't worry,' Kyoko replied.

'I'm sorry but that didn't look like nothing,' Akito insisted now getting slightly concerned, 'is there anything wrong with my sister?'

'Hasn't your father told you?' Keisuke asked looking definitely shocked.

'I haven't seen him today,' Akito replied, 'Keisuke-san, what's wrong?'

'Well,' Keisuke said choosing to ignore his wife's silent protests, 'it seems as though as we won't be able to enter Haruko into the next karting championship.'

'Why not?' Akito asked almost angrily.

'Er…' Keisuke started.

'Your sister's had some sort of problem with her sponsor,' Kyoko said instead of her husband and judging by the way she sounded, she was quite upset by the whole issue.

'What happened to the car rental company which was going to sponsor her?' Akito asked.

'They…well…they've preferred to sponsor another racer,' Keisuke replied.

'A boy,' Kyoko added.

'What?' Ryoko asked voicing the very question Akito was about to ask, 'Mum, please tell me they're not sponsoring him because he is a boy.'

'Yes sweetie,' Kyoko said no longer bothering to hide the fact that she was very angry about this, 'it seems like they think this boy will have a much surer future in motorsports.'

'What are those people playing at? It's the twenty first century for crying out loud!' Akito exclaimed, 'and she's good, extremely good, even Grandpa says so.'

'Is there anything we can do?' Seisuke asked intervening in the conversation for the first time.

'Keisuke-san,' Akito said, ignoring Seisuke's question, 'do you think I could help her in any way?'

'I don't know,' Keisuke replied, 'we've told your father that we can sponsor her instead but he insisted that he's going to solve this by himself.'

Akito looked at him for a while then, all of a sudden, an idea started forming into his head so, when half an hour later he parked his V-86 next to his father's venerably old AE86 and he walked into his home Akito hoped that his old man would still be up and about.

'Hey Dad,' Akito said finding Takumi in the Fujiwara's living room watching a movie on TV.

'Akito,' Takumi started, 'you're home early. I didn't expect you to come back until after midnight.'

'I know, I needed to talk to you,' Akito said taking a chair and placing it in front of the couch where his father was sitting so he could face his old man.

'Okay,' Takumi said turning the TV off, 'what's up?'

'I've heard about Haruko's problems with the sponsor,' Akito started, lowering his voice to bring it just above a whisper.

'Did Keisuke tell you?' Takumi asked frowning.

'He didn't mean to,' Akito replied, 'but it's a good think he has,' he added, 'besides, he said that you wanted to solve this your own way and that's what we're going to do.'

'What do you mean?' Takumi asked.

'I mean that we're not going to let the Takahashi's help us with this too,' Akito said.

'Akito…'

'Dad,' Akito interrupted him, 'I know that you guys didn't want to accept my biological mum's money for the GP2 team but, I guess you won't give me a hard time if I try to help my sister with it, will you?'

'Akito…'

'Please Dad,' Akito interrupted him again, 'I really want to help her.'

'It's just that…'

'Dad,' Akito said, 'sooner or later I will need to start spending that money and I can't think of any better use for it than to sponsor Haruko. She really is better than I am and you know it.'

'I do,' Takumi admitted finally surrendering, 'she's great.'

'I'd love to see her become whatever she wants,' Akito said, 'imagine if she aims for the F1 too, we could have the very first Japanese female racer ever!'

'And two Fujiwara racing for the title,' Takumi added.

'Ah no,' Akito said, 'by the time Haruko makes it to F1 I'm hoping to have retired already,' Akito said.

'Are you afraid of a fair fight against your sister?' Takumi asked clearly making fun of his son.

'Terrified,' Akito replied keeping a very straight face.

'Seriously?' Takumi asked disbelievingly.

'Yeah,' Akito replied, 'who wouldn't be afraid of her? She's as crazy as Grandpa!'

'You've got a fair point there,' Takumi said smiling at his son.

'Uh-huh,' Akito nodded then, looking at his father straight in the eye, he added, 'there's one more thing though.'

'What is it?'

'I really don't want Haruko to know where the money's coming from. You can tell Mum but not Haruko, okay?'

'Sure,' Takumi said for he understood how his little girl might feel if she found out that she was still racing because of her older brother's money.

The next day the two of them took Haruko to the Centre where they saw a very familiar looking Nissan parking next to Takumi's AE86.

'I can't believe it's still running,' Iketani commented looking at the old Toyota.

'Hey,' Takumi complained, 'don't say that, it'll hurt its feelings.'

Iketani chuckled as his fourteen year old son climbed out of the Nissan.

'I see you've finally decided to take my offer up,' Takumi commented still talking to his old work colleague.

'Yeah,' Iketani replied, 'Hikaru's been nagging at me to let him have a go with the V40A so…'

'Great,' Takumi said, 'come with me then,' he added looking at the boy who, as usual, looked awed seeing the legendary racer.

'Dad,' Akito said, 'Haruko and I will go to the team's base, okay?'

'Sure,' Takumi replied as he, Iketani and his son started walking to where the Toyota Vera units were parked.

'What's wrong?' Akito asked to his unusually quiet little sister.

'Nothing,' she replied a tad too quickly to be convincing.

'Okay,' Akito said and he stole a glance at Haruko realising that the almost eleven year old girl was still looking at Hikaru as the boy followed the two older men to a different sector of the centre. Akito was about to tease her about that when his mobile phone started ringing.

'Hello?' he said answering it.

'Hello, are you Fujiwara Akito?' the voice of a strange man asked.

'Yes, who is there?'

'My name's not too important at the moment,' the stranger said, 'you just need to know that I have a very good offer for you.'

'I'm sorry but if…'

'How would you like to swap to another team in GP2?' the man asked all of a sudden.

'Excuse me?' Akito managed to ask.

'We know of a team that is extremely interested in hiring you and we could arrange for you to meet with one of its representatives.'

'No,' Akito finally said, 'I'm very happy where I am and besides, if I were after a change you'll need to speak to my father who happens to be my manager too.'

'Ah, I see,' the man said.

'Now, I'm sorry but I'm going to hang up,' Akito said and, with this, he pressed the button to finish the highly disturbing conversation.

'Oniichan?' he then heard Haruko ask, 'is everything alright?'

'Yeah,' Akito said trying to shake off the uneasiness the phone call had made him feel, 'don't worry about anything. Instead, what's going on with Hikaru-kun?' he asked as he grinned at her.

'Ah…eh…' Haruko stuttered as she got as red as a pepperoni.

_To be continued…_


	3. Chapter Two

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Two_

The following Saturday evening and as he had agreed with his younger brother, Kyosuke met with Akito and Ryoko so they could drive to the mountain pass of Momiji Lane where they would join him and Misa because, sometime before eight, the Kanto Kaisers would arrive for a short practice session before two of them would race two of the Tochigi Thunders.

'She's not coming tonight either, is she?' Akito commented as Ryoko climbed into the passenger seat of her boyfriend's V-86.

'No, I don't think so,' Ryoko replied while she fastened the four point racing seatbelt the car came equipped with.

Akito looked over the steering wheel and observed his long time friend as he climbed into his five year old RZ-1, watching him while looking for any signs which would tell him whether the oldest of the Takahashi brothers was angry or in any other way upset but, as usual, Kyosuke's features were trained to betray absolutely no emotion.

'Ryoko,' Akito said as he turned the V-86's engine on, 'you don't think they've…you know…'

'I hope not,' Ryoko replied shaking her head vigorously sending some strands of her long fringe flying everywhere.

'Then what's wrong with Kizuna?' Akito asked inserting the first gear and releasing the handbrake so he could follow Kyosuke's car.

'I don't know,' Ryoko replied, 'the only think I know is that something's happened between the two and I think it all started right after the win you guys took in Melbourne.'

'Really?' Akito asked sounding surprised, 'I didn't notice anything strange.'

Ryoko let out a sarcastic chuckle before saying:

'You guys can be so clueless sometimes.'

'Hey,' Akito complained, 'that's not fair!'

'Akito,' Ryoko started, using the almost patronising tone she always used when trying to explain something particularly complicated to her boyfriend, 'Kizuna wasn't even at the celebration dinner, remember?'

'Er…' Akito said frowning as he tried to bring back that memory, 'you're right!' he finally exclaimed, 'why wasn't she there?' he then asked.

'I don't know,' Ryoko replied a tad on the exasperated side, 'if I knew, I would probably know the reason why she hasn't been showing up recently…'

'Yeah, that's right too,' Akito admitted.

'But I'll tell you something,' Ryoko said, 'whatever it is, it's got Kyosuke very worried because he's been even quieter than usual.'

'I know,' Akito agreed, 'even I have noticed that.'

'I think I'll give Kizuna a call,' Ryoko announced as she went to pull her phone out of her tiny handbag.

'No,' Akito said, 'I don't think that's such a good idea.'

'You don't?' Ryoko asked.

'No,' Akito replied, 'don't ask me why but with Kyosuke I've always had the impression that we need to let him solve his problems on his own.'

'Yeah,' Ryoko said, 'I think so too.'

'Oh well,' Akito said, 'if you really want to help anybody I think you should help me.'

'What do you mean?' Ryoko asked worriedly and then Akito used the following ten minutes to explain to her about the weird phone call he'd received a few days before and the fact that he hadn't managed to get rid of the uneasy feeling that kept nagging at him.

'Uh-oh,' Ryoko said as he finished the explanation.

'Is that a good 'uh-oh' or a bad one?' Akito asked.

'A bad one,' Ryoko replied, 'I once heard that a rival team did something like that to my father to distract him.'

'Distract him from what?' Akito asked.

'From racing,' Ryoko replied, 'they hoped that by telling him that they were interested in getting him to join this very important rallying team it would make him lose his focus. Dad was lucky that Tsuchiya-san knew about this kind of tactics and he warned him about it all.'

'Why would anybody want to do that to me?' Akito asked.

'Duh!' Ryoko replied, 'Akito, our team has just won the first race we've ever entered, don't you think the other teams have a very good reason to be pretty freaked out?'

Akito looked at her briefly before returning his attention to the motorway.

'I don't know,' Akito finally said, 'I know we're good,' he added, 'but I think our victory has a lot to do with the fact that we could count on the surprise factor. The next race is going to be a lot tougher.'

'All the more reason to stay focused then,' Ryoko concluded and Akito only nodded to that as he made himself a mental note to discuss the phone call with his father and grandfather to see what the two older men thought of the whole incident.

An hour after leaving Maebashi they arrived at the summit of the Momiji Lane's course where they saw Seisuke's RZ-1 already parked next to Misa's V37 with Seisuke listening to something Jiro was explaining to the Thunders while Misa was busy talking to an upset looking Hiroki.

'Hey,' Akito said to Seisuke as he and Ryoko climbed out of the car.

'You're late!' Seisuke complained, 'those guys will be here any time now.'

'You said eight o'clock,' Kyosuke pointed out sounding a tad on the dry side, 'it's five to eight.'

'O-okay,' Seisuke half stuttered then, noticing that Kizuna wasn't there he exchanged a quick look with his older brother who silently asked him to forget about the whole thing, at least temporarily.

'What's wrong with you?' Akito asked as he walked towards his GP2 team mate.

'My car's at the garage right now,' Hiroki said angrily, 'if I had known those guys were coming today.'

'Hey,' Ryoko said, 'don't worry about it. You guys have enough good drivers to represent you, haven't you?'

'Yes, of course,' Hiroki replied, 'it's just that…'

'I know,' Ryoko said as she patted Hiroki's left arm, 'you probably feel quite frustrated, don't you?'

'Y-yes, t-that's exactly how I feel,' he replied, hesitating so slightly that only Misa seemed to realise that something was out of place in the way Hiroki was behaving.

'Are you going to race then?' Akito asked Misa looking as though as he hadn't noticed anything weird.

'Yes, I can't wait!' Misa replied.

'Well, I certainly can,' Seisuke said as he and his brother joined the three of them with Jiro.

'Seisuke please,' Misa started, using a pleading tone of voice, 'let's not start again, okay?'

'Hey,' Seisuke said putting both of his hands up, 'I've already said you're free to do whatever you want.'

'Thanks,' Misa said as she took one of her boyfriend's hands and squeezed it in one of hers.

'They're here,' Jiro suddenly announced and then everyone there looked as they saw a group formed by four cars entering the small car park which was already quite full with the rides of a few of the Tochigi Thunders and the rest of the cars which were there.

'That's it?' Hiroki asked, 'only four of them?'

'Hey,' Kyosuke said, 'when our father was running his Project D they only had two drivers and they still managed to beat everyone they raced.'

'That's right,' Akito agreed, 'it's not the numbers which make a team big.'

'Well said kid,' one of the four drivers said as he climbed out of his ride: a very highly tuned version of a 2013 Mitsubishi X-2. The car itself was painted in such a bright yellow that it almost hurt one's eyes.

'So,' another one said as he closed the door of his dark purple Subaru WRX, 'where's that GP2 driver?'

'I'm here,' Hiroki replied just a micro second before Akito who chose to remain quiet realising that, for once, he wasn't the only GP2 racer present.

'Good,' that second guy said as the other two joined the first ones, 'I can't wait to race you.'

'Unfortunately you will have to wait,' Misa said, 'his ride is undergoing an upgrade and I'll be racing you instead of him.'

The guy glanced back at his team mates, all of them looking to be in their late twenties and uttering a chuckle, he looked again at Misa smiling in a very patronising manner as he said:

'Are you old enough to have your driving license sweetheart?'

'I'm actually twenty one years old and I've had my license since I was eighteen,' Misa replied refusing to let his offensive tone of voice to get the best out of her.

'Oh,' the guy said, 'in that case, and since you're such a pretty girl maybe we could…'

'Thanks for the compliment but no thanks,' Misa said interrupting the guy before Seisuke would literally explode, 'I don't think my boyfriend here would appreciate that,' she added pointing at the youngest of the Takahashi brothers.

'Ah,' the guy said looking at positively fuming Seisuke, 'sorry about that mate.'

'Let's just race, okay?' Jiro said.

'Yes, that sounds good,' the guy who'd spoken first agreed, 'my name's Fujimoto Shinobu and this is my friend Daichiro, we'll be the ones racing tonight.'

'I'm Kosugi Jiro,' the Tochigi Thunders' leader said, 'you've got the pass for the next two hours. Let's start the race at ten, okay?'

'Sure,' Fujimoto said and, with that, he and Daichiro got back into their cars and after starting their engines, all four cars started driving down Momiji Lane.

'Misa…' Seisuke started.

'Please Sei…'

'No,' he interrupted her, 'all I want to say is that you should be extra careful tonight, okay?'

'I will be, don't worry,' she added.

'Kosugi,' Kyosuke said, 'do you mind if we use the other sector of the pass for a bit?'

'No, of course not,' Jiro replied, 'we could take our cars for a spin to warm them up.'

'Great,' Kyosuke said then, looking at Akito, he added, 'you're coming?'

'Er…' he hesitated as he glanced at Ryoko.

'Go,' the girl said, 'I'll stay here with Hiroki.'

Misa noticed yet again as Hiroki's face lit up for just an instant before the twenty year old could get his expression back to its neutral usual self. This time she made herself a mental note to discuss this with Seisuke to see what her boyfriend thought about her suspicions.

Two hours later Kyosuke joined Jiro at the bottom of the pass to see the start of the uphill race which would see the Tochigi Thunders' Honda Civic GM5 battling against the Kanto Kaisers' Mitsubishi X-2.

'Everything's ready up here,' Jiro heard Misa say over the radio installed in his Honda for the girl was at the summit with Hiroki and Ryoko.

'Same here,' another of the Thunders said reporting from the mid-point of the course.

'Seisuke and Akito are in position, too,' Kyosuke confirmed since he had agreed with both Jiro and Fujimoto that the two younger men would serve as neutral officials to this race so they were on stand by at two different points of the course.

'We're ready when you are,' Jiro said to Fujimoto.

'Let's start then,' the Kanto Kaisers' leader said climbing into his Mitsubishi.

'I'll do the countdown,' Kyosuke added as he placed himself in front of the two cars then, seeing Jiro getting behind the wheel of his Honda he shouted, 'Five, four, three, two, one: GO!'

He then watched in surprise as the Mitsubishi was quickly left behind by the Honda but then, observing the X-2 more carefully Kyosuke noticed that Fujimoto wasn't even trying to push it.

'Oh crap,' Kyosuke muttered as he ran towards his RZ-1 so he could talk to his younger brother and to Akito, 'Seisuke,' he added as he closed the door of his Mazda, 'watch carefully what goes on in your sector.'

'What's wrong Aniki?' Seisuke asked.

'I don't know yet,' Kyosuke replied, 'but these guys are as smart as we thought.'

'That's bad,' Seisuke said.

'Yeah,' Kyosuke confirmed.

'And Misa's going to be racing one of them next,' Seisuke added miserably.

'Holy crap,' they then heard Akito say.

'What's up?' Kyosuke asked him.

'They've just passed in front of my V-86 and the Mitsubishi's closing the gap so quickly that Kosugi will have him on his rear bumper before they get to the next corner.'

'I knew it,' Kyosuke said, 'Kosugi's fallen into his trap. It's just like Dad used to do with his opponents.'

'What do you mean?' Akito asked.

'Our father,' Seisuke explained, 'used to let his rivals take the lead at the beginning of the race to make them feel a false sense of security then they got overconfident and that made it very easy for Dad to beat the crap out of them.'

'That didn't work with my father though,' Akito commented and that provoked a twin chuckle coming from both of the Takahashi brothers.

'Normal tactics didn't work with your old man,' Seisuke countered.

'Nothing worked with him,' Kyosuke added making Akito smile proudly for he knew that his two best friends were right.

Unfortunately for Jiro, Fujimoto's tactics worked wonders and by the time Jiro recovered from the shock of being overtaken at his own home course it was too late and he was still feeling hot with shame as he crossed the finish line a full five seconds after the Kanto Kaisers' leader.

'Aniki, I'm heading up,' Seisuke said as they all received the news of the first time Jiro had been beaten at his home turf since the race against Kyosuke.

'Me too,' Akito added and instead of following them to the mountain top the Golden Arrows' leader decided to stay behind so he could have a few minutes all to himself to do some much needed thinking.

Ten minutes later Seisuke and Akito parked their cars next to Jiro's Honda as they saw the Tochigi Thunders' leader walking towards Fujimoto.

'Thanks for racing fairly,' Jiro said and everyone there could not help but to admire the sense of dignity the twenty four year old was displaying.

'It was fun,' Fujimoto said, 'you put up quite a good fight.'

'Oh, please,' Jiro said, 'there's no need to be so polite: you have beaten me fair and square and you have also shown me quite a few great techniques.'

'Well, tarmac rallying was my specialty when I raced professionally,' Fujimoto admitted.

'Why did you retire?' Jiro asked hoping this wasn't a much too personal question.

'I injured myself and all I can do now is race for just a short while,' Fujimoto replied shrugging his shoulders clearly refusing to be any more specific.

'I see,' Jiro said, 'I'm sorry about that.'

Fujimoto shrugged his shoulders once more before he walked back to his three friends then, as agreed, Daichiro made his way to his dark purple Subaru to start the downhill race.

'Misa,' Jiro started before Seisuke could even speak to her, 'don't let your guard down, these guys are excellent and I'd bet my car that this Daichiro guy has memorised the course as well as his friend Fujimoto.'

'Okay, I'll keep that in mind,' Misa said then turning to Seisuke, she added, 'and I'll be very careful.'

Seisuke nodded to her as he bent down to kiss her softly on her lips.

'I'll be at the usual frequency,' Seisuke said.

With that Misa made her way to the V37 and climbing into it, Seisuke saw her as she strapped herself onto her seat, started the car's engine and made it roll forward to line it up with the Subaru.

Akito felt Ryoko squeezing his hand in hers as they stood behind the guardrail next to Jiro and Hiroki with Fujimoto and his other two friends staying confidently by their cars inside the small car park while Seisuke had already locked himself inside his white RZ-1.

One of the Thunders acted as the countdown man and, at the go, both red and dark purple cars took off leaving everyone astounded with the speed at which both cars were travelling.

'She's already ahead!' Ryoko exclaimed as she watched her friend drive around the first corner.

'Not good,' Akito commented to Kosugi, 'he's let her take the lead too.'

'Yeah,' Kosugi said concernedly, 'that's exactly what Fujimoto's done to me.'

'Do they really think the same tactic will work twice?' Hiroki asked but what none of them knew was that Daichiro had no intentions whatsoever of following the same strategy and Misa realised that pretty soon.

'Seisuke this is really weird' she said to her boyfriend as she entered one of the first corners of the lidless gutter's section, 'he's staying behind me and doesn't seem to have any intentions of overtaking me.'

'Misa, stay focused,' Seisuke said as he started feeling even more uneasy than usual.

Misa didn't even bother to reply for she knew that already however, when she least expected it and as she was putting her car's tyres awfully close to the gutter's edge, she saw as the Subaru, which up to now had kept itself within a reasonable distance, started accelerating all of a sudden.

'Oh gosh,' Seisuke heard Misa half whisper.

'Misa?' he asked and then everything happened too quickly for him to figure out what was going on. All he heard was Misa's strained voice screaming and before he even realised that he was doing so consciously, Seisuke turned the car's engine on and started driving downhill as fast as the rotary engine could go.

'MISA!' he cried as he took the car through a high speed corner and not hearing her reply made him press the accelerator even further down.

Seisuke had only driven this desperately once before: the day Akito had crashed his GP2 car.

_To be continued…_


	4. Chapter Three

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Three_

What Seisuke saw as he stopped his RZ-1 was not a pretty sight: Misa's V37 was overturned with its four wheels facing up and the roof half crushed by the impact against the tarmac. The twenty three year old had never moved faster in his whole life as he jumped out of his car as he grabbed his first aid bag using the same momentum to start running towards where his girlfriend was.

'DON'T TOUCH HER!' he screamed at Daichiro who had his Subaru's front bumper touching the guardrail for he had braked so brusquely that he had almost crashed the dark purple car too.

'I'm just trying to…' the much older man said after stopping just a hair away from Misa's door.

'DON'T-TOUCH-HER,' Seisuke repeated as he pushed Daichiro away so he could have the room he needed to get Misa out of the car then, as he forced the door open he saw that Misa was hanging off her racing seatbelt visibly unconscious.

This made Seisuke unable to think for a couple of interminably long seconds until the doctor training he was getting in his fourth year of medical school kicked in: he then started doing everything as if driven by an automatic pilot and soon after that, Misa was lying on the small blanket he had in his bag as Seisuke started looking for her vital signs.

'She's alive,' he muttered more to himself than to anyone else.

'Er…' Daichiro started.

'What?' Seisuke almost barked.

'I've called an ambulance,' the older guy replied and his subdued tone of voice made Seisuke realise that he was being extremely rude to the poor Daichiro.

'Thanks,' he said.

Daichiro just nodded to Seisuke before he started walking back to his car so he could get it out of the way then, as he drove past both Seisuke and Misa he said:

'Do you need a hand or…'

'No,' Seisuke replied, 'don't worry, just go and get your people out of here.'

'I will,' Daichiro said, 'and I'm very sorry, I really didn't mean to…'

'Just go,' Seisuke interrupted him then, as an afterthought, he added, 'please.'

Daichiro drove off and Seisuke was grateful that there weren't any curious bystanders around him for, as he looked back at the still unconscious Misa, he felt one single tear escaping from his control.

Half an hour later Seisuke was at the waiting room of the Utsunomiya's General Hospital where he had followed the ambulance which had taken Misa into the hospital's emergency department.

'Hey,' Seisuke heard his older brother say as he entered the room followed by Ryoko, Akito, Kosugi and Hiroki, 'how is…'

'I don't know yet,' Seisuke replied even before Kyosuke could finish the question then, just as he had said that, a female doctor came into the room and asked:

'Who's with the girl they've just brought in?'

'I am,' Seisuke replied as he sprung up from the plastic chair.

'Your friend…'

'She's my girlfriend,' Seisuke corrected her.

'Ah, okay,' the middle aged woman said offering him a tiny smile, 'she's fine, she's just got a concussion and a sprained wrist. We're going to run some tests to make sure we haven't missed anything but she should be able to leave the hospital tomorrow evening.'

Seisuke felt himself collapse back onto the chair out of sheer relief. Only then he managed to find the strength to look at the doctor and ask:

'Could I please see her?'

'Well,' the doctor started, 'theoretically speaking only the relatives are allowed but, I think I can make an exception.'

'Thanks, I'd appreciate that,' Seisuke said giving the doctor his best, most charming smile.

'Come with me then,' she said and Ryoko had to repress as snort at the obvious way her cousin had, yet again, used the huge appeal he knew he had on most women.

Shortly after, Seisuke was left alone with Misa who thankfully enough was already awake and despite the orthopaedic collar she was wearing, she looked to be sorrier than in pain.

'Hey, how are you?' he asked her taking a seat by her side.

'I'm okay, I think…' Misa replied, 'how's the car?'

'Not quite so well, I'm afraid,' Seisuke replied and smiled at the way his girlfriend first frowned then sighed in defeat as she said:

'Oh well, it's just a car, I guess.'

'You're right about that,' Seisuke with his smile gone agreed, 'I just don't know what I'd do if…'

'Hey,' Misa said taking his hand with the one which wasn't bandaged, 'I said I'm okay.'

'I know it's just that…'

'I know,' Misa interrupted him, 'I don't know either what I'd do if anything happened to you.'

'Sucks being in love, doesn't it?' Seisuke asked with his cheeky smile coming back to his handsome face as he heard Misa laughing softly.

'Speaking of that,' Misa said suddenly remembering what she'd seen earlier, 'I think Hiroki may have a crush on your cousin.'

'WHAT?' they both then heard an extremely familiar sounding voice shout making them both look at the door where they saw a stunned Akito standing there holding the door's knob.

'Akito…' Seisuke started but then, seeing Akito run back out of the room, he exchanged a quick, worried look with Misa before getting up so he could go after his best friend, catching him just in time before he made it to the waiting room, 'wait,' he whispered as he grabbed Akito's left arm.

'Let go of…'

'Please,' Seisuke begged him while still whispering, 'Misa's just suffered a concussion and she probably doesn't even know what she's saying.'

'Really?' Akito asked him clearly not convinced at all.

'Yes,' Seisuke insisted, wishing Akito didn't speak quite so loudly for he knew that Hiroki was just a few meters away, 'she's very confused right now: she didn't even flinch when I told her about her car.'

'In that case,' Akito said, 'it won't hurt if I ask him, will it?'

'Akito…'

'By the way,' the nineteen years old interrupted him, 'I came to tell Misa that your brother and Kosugi have the V37 on a truck and they're going to take it back to the Centre tonight to see if we can fix it.'

With that, Seisuke observed helplessly as Akito walked back into the waiting room leaving him with no other option but to follow him.

'Hiroki,' Akito said using an almost harsh tone of voice, 'can I have a word with you, in private?'

'Er…' the slightly older guy said hesitantly.

'Akito, please let it be,' Seisuke repeated beginning to get rather desperate for he could hardly say anything more specific right in front of everyone, especially to the only girl present in the room: Ryoko.

'Hiroki?' Akito asked clearly ignoring Seisuke's plea.

'Alright,' Hiroki said as he finally got up to follow Akito out of the waiting area.

'What's going on?' Ryoko asked to the younger of her two cousins.

'I don't know,' he lied.

'I'll go w…'

'I don't think that's a good idea,' Seisuke said taking Ryoko by one of her small shoulders, 'they're going to talk about racing,' he lied again.

'Really?' Ryoko asked sounding so sceptical that it made the youngest of the Takahashi brothers think that he needed to improve a lot when it came to his acting abilities.

Meanwhile and after walking down one of the hospital's corridors for quite a while, Akito stopped so abruptly that he nearly made Hiroki collide against him.

'What's up?' Hiroki asked him trying to appear as unconcerned as possible.

'What I'm going to ask you will probably sound rather weird,' Akito started, 'however,' he continued, 'it's something that Misa thinks but, for some reason, it kind of makes sense.'

'What is it?' Hiroki asked unable to cope with the suspense for much longer.

'Do you have a crush on my girlfriend?' Akito asked so bluntly that Hiroki looked as though as someone had slapped him and, for a few instants, he seemed unable to utter a single word, confirming Akito's worst fears, 'Hiroki, please tell me Misa and I are wrong, or else…'

'Y-yes,' Hiroki finally replied.

'Yes as in we're wrong or yes,' Akito barked barely able to keep himself from punching his team mate for what would be the second time ever.

'Yes, you're wrong,' Hiroki said as quickly as it was humanly possible, 'there's no way I could...I mean…she's YOUR girl.'

'That's right,' Akito agreed then, using his driest tone of voice, he added, 'she's MY girl so I hope I don't need to…'

'Look,' Hiroki interrupted him, 'I am not interested in Ryoko, okay?' he added surprising himself of how easy it had been for him to say such a huge lie.

'Good,' Akito said, 'because I don't even want to think about what would happen to the team if…'

'Hey,' Hiroki interrupted him once more, 'I said I'm not interested, okay?' he repeated, 'let's just go back with the rest of the guys, okay?'

'Yeah, let's do that,' Akito said as he started walking without waiting for Hiroki who then followed his younger team mate back to the waiting room.

Just as they were stepping into it, he felt as Akito glanced at him briefly before returning his gaze towards Ryoko, walking towards her and taking her hand in his making it even clearer to Hiroki that Ryoko was and would always be his girl.

'Kosugi and I are going to head to the Centre with Misa's car,' Kyosuke said to Akito and Hiroki, 'what are you going to do?'

'We'll go home,' Akito replied, deciding for both he and Ryoko with the girl glancing at her boyfriend looking a bit taken aback by this but choosing to say nothing at all.

'I'm going to go home too,' Hiroki added.

'I'm staying here with Misa,' Seisuke said, 'Aniki, can you please tell Mum and Dad?'

'Of course, I've got the parental units covered,' Kyosuke replied even before his brother could finish the question.

'Send my love to Misa, okay?' Ryoko asked as Akito started to, quite literally, drag her out of the room.

'I will,' Seisuke replied training his features in what he hoped was a completely blank expression to prevent it from showing how extremely worried he was about the conversation Akito and Hiroki had just had.

Just after Akito and Ryoko's departure, Jiro glanced at a downcast looking Hiroki and asked:

'Is everything alright?'

'Yeah,' the younger guy replied to the Tochigi Thunders' leader, 'I'll see you all later,' he added as he too left the waiting area.

'Don't ask me,' Seisuke said to both Kyosuke and Jiro who looked at him inquisitively the instant Hiroki was gone, 'I'm going to speak to Misa.'

He then left the two twenty four year olds alone as he made his way back to his girlfriend's room where he found a very concerned looking Misa waiting for him.

'What happened?' she asked.

'Either you were wrong or Hiroki's a really good liar,' Seisuke replied, 'because he was still in one piece after he and Akito talked.'

'I think it's the second,' Misa said miserably, 'I should have kept this to myself.'

'Too late for that now,' Seisuke said, 'in any case, what makes you so sure that Hiroki likes Ryoko?'

'I don't know,' Misa replied, 'it's the way he looks at her and the way his face lightens up when she's around. I've been observing him for a while but I didn't make the connection until tonight.'

'Shit,' Seisuke said slapping his forehead with his hand, 'you know what this means?'

'No,' Misa said shaking her head as much as she could with the orthopaedic collar she had on.

'If you've realised that, probably Akito's seen something weird too,' Seisuke explained.

'Why would he? You haven't noticed any of that,' Misa countered.

'Yes,' Seisuke agreed, 'but again, Ryoko's not my girlfriend,' he added, 'if anyone did something like that with you I would definitely see it.'

'So you think I'm right then?' Misa asked.

'The signs are all there,' Seisuke replied, 'and don't forget we're talking about Hiroki. He's not the most expressive guy on earth, is he?'

'No, he isn't,' Misa agreed looking at her boyfriend, 'which is precisely the reason why I started noticing it in the first place.'

'What a gigantic mess,' Seisuke said.

Meanwhile Akito was already on the road back to Maebashi followed by Kyosuke in his RZ-1 and by Kosugi who was driving a towing truck training Misa's V37.

'What did you and Hiroki talk about?' Ryoko asked after checking that the car's radio was turned off.

'Racing,' Akito replied a bit too fast to be entirely convincing.

'Right, racing,' Ryoko said sceptically.

'Ryoko,' Akito started, 'don't take this the wrong way.'

The girl interrupted him with a dry snort.

'If you say this, I will most certainly take it the wrong way,' she said.

'Then don't,' Akito asked her, 'because I'd prefer if you didn't come to the races anymore.'

'What?' Ryoko half shouted, 'why?' she then added with a dismayed tone of voice.

'Er…' Akito hesitated as he realised that he didn't really know what to say, 'I just think it'd better that you concentrate on your studies and the ice skating job.'

'Oh-my-god,' she said marking each of the words, 'I knew it. I just knew it.'

'You knew what?' Akito asked her.

'I knew that if I got back into ice skating you'd do that.'

'Baby,' Akito said, 'I just…'

'Akito,' Ryoko interrupted him, using once more the commanding tone of voice which made it very clear that she was a Takahashi through and through, 'you know I quit ice skating after your accident because I wanted to be with you all the time, including the races.'

'Yes, that's right but…'

'And you also know how extremely hard it was to convince my father to let me skip some of the university lectures so I could come with you to the races.'

'Yes, I know that but…'

'And you were very happy when I told you I would follow you to every single event.'

'Yes I was but…'

'Then how is…'

'Ryoko,' Akito finally interrupted her, 'I just think it's better this way for both of us.'

'What?' Ryoko asked him again almost shouting, 'what in the heck are you talking about?'

At this point Akito started regretting this whole conversation and began getting angry at Hiroki and even angrier at himself for allowing his team mate to provoke his argument. Yet again, it had been quite some time that he'd noticed something was very odd in the way Hiroki interacted with Ryoko and only Misa's words had made everything click into place.

'So?' Ryoko asked, raising her voice and getting him out of his reverie.

'You'll distract me if you're around,' Akito replied no longer able to think straight.

'I WILL WHAT?' Ryoko asked now definitely shouting at him.

'Please baby I…'

'Oh my gosh,' Ryoko said using such a low tone of voice that Akito had trouble hearing her over the noise of the V-86's racing engine.

'Ryoko…'

'You don't want me around so you can go and flirt with one of those pit lane girls, don't you?' Ryoko asked accusingly in what sounded more like a rhetoric question than anything else.

'NO!' Akito exclaimed almost losing control of the vehicle, 'Ryoko…'

'SHUT UP AND STOP THE CAR!' Ryoko ordered him.

'What? I…'

'I want you to stop the car this instant!' Ryoko shouted as she went to turn the radio back on.

'Ryoko, please…'

'Kyosuke, this is Ryoko,' the girl said clearly ignoring her boyfriend, 'pull over, I'm going home with you.'

'What's the matter?' Kyosuke asked sounding every bit as puzzled as Ryoko was angry.

'Noth…' Akito started.

'Pull the car over,' Ryoko ordered to her cousin then, looking back at Akito, she snarled, 'stop the car or I swear I'll jump out of it!'

Knowing that anything he did or said would be useless and since Kyosuke was already stopping by the side of the road with a very confused Jiro doing the same with the truck, Akito was forced to stop the V-86 too.

'Ryoko,' Akito started in what was one last desperate attempt at making her be reasonable.

'You know what?' Ryoko said icily, 'since you don't want me around during the races you won't have me around at all.'

With that and before Akito's brain even finished registering her sentence, Ryoko got out of the car and ran to Kyosuke's and by the time he managed to climb out of the V-86 he saw as his girlfriend ordered her cousin to re-start driving.

'What happened?' Akito half-heard Jiro ask amidst his confused state.

Unable to bring himself to do anything else, Akito's knees gave up on him forcing him down into a crouching position. He then held his head in his hands wondering the exact moment when he'd started messing everything up this badly.

'Fujiwara…' Jiro said sounding very worried but the younger man didn't pay any attention to him:

He had just spotted something metallic on the ground and, as he started at it, his confounded brain started forming an idea which Akito hoped would be good enough to make Ryoko forgive him.

_To be continued…_


	5. Chapter Four

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Four_

Akito managed to somehow get to his home in Shibukawa then, after lying to Natsuki telling her that he had already had dinner, he locked himself in his room to spend quite a few hours lying on his bed staring at the ceiling through the darkness letting his brain replay the whole evening over and over, the anger and angst he felt preventing him from falling asleep.

Five minutes before his alarm clock marked eight in the morning, he got back up and not even bothering with getting changed, much less taking the shower he knew he desperately needed, Akito picked his denim jacket, his wallet and his car's keys and went back downstairs.

'Akito, where are you going?' Akito heard his father ask as he rushed past the living room's door.

'I've got something to do before our practice session,' Akito replied damning himself for forgetting that his old man was already awake most days at this time of the morning.

'Oh,' Takumi said, 'I thought we could go to the Centre together.'

'I'm sorry Dad but it's urgent,' he apologised then he walked to the house's entrance and slipped his trainers on doing his shoelaces as fast as he could.

'Son,' Takumi said as Akito put his hand on the doorknob, 'are you okay?'

'Yeah, don't worry,' Akito replied dismissively.

'Okay,' Takumi said, 'I'll see you at the Centre then.'

'Yeah,' the nineteen year old replied as he opened the door half running to the V-86 then, after climbing into it, he turned the engine on and drove off to the Shibukawa branch of the Sumitomo Mitsui Bank where he only stopped just long enough to get the money he needed.

An hour and a half later Akito parked the Toyota at the driveway of the Takahashi residence and with his heart beating faster than ever he rang the doorbell a couple of times.

'Akito?' he heard Keisuke ask sounding positively surprised to see the young man there.

'Please Keisuke-san,' Akito started, bowing to his team manager as deeply as he could, 'I really need to speak to your daughter.'

'What have you done?' Keisuke asked and this time he sounded half way through alarmed and crossed making Akito think that maybe, like that time ages ago when Ryoko had broken up with him, the poor man didn't know anything about his daughter and Akito's latest fight.

'I think I've…' Akito started and as he straightened his back he saw Ryoko and her mother walking out of the living room, probably curious to see who was at their doorstep.

'What are you doing here?' Ryoko asked with such a dry tone of voice that it made Akito flinch.

'Five minutes,' Akito begged her, 'please, give me only five minutes.'

'Have you two had a fight?' Kyoko asked pointing out the obvious.

'Yes,' Ryoko replied angrily, 'and I don't want to see him ever again!' she shouted sounding so pissed off that Akito's already weak hopes were vanishing at an alarmingly fast rate.

'Please...' Akito started then he interrupted himself seeing the weird look Keisuke was giving him.

'What's going on in here?' the four of them heard then Kyosuke ask as he walked down the stairs followed by his parents making Akito wonder what in the heck was the whole of the Takahashi family doing at home except Seisuke who presumably was still at the hospital with Misa.

Realising that he could hardly do what he wanted to do right in front of all of them, Akito sighed and started turning round to walk back to his car.

'Where are you going?' Keisuke asked him and that made Akito turn back to face him.

'Well, I'm…' the young racer said with his voice sounding so horribly strained that he feared he would choke himself to death if he tried to carry on speaking.

'You've done something that has upset my daughter, haven't you?' Keisuke asked frowning at him.

'Yes, sir,' Akito half whispered swallowing as he braced himself for the worst.

'And you're here to ask her for her forgiveness, aren't you?'

'Yes, sir,' Akito replied, 'but I…'

'Okay,' Keisuke said shocking everyone in the process, Akito more than anyone else.

'S-sir?' Akito asked while looking at the older man confusedly.

'You have five minutes,' Keisuke replied.

'Dad!' Ryoko exclaimed angrily as both Kyoko and Akiko limited themselves to look at Keisuke amusedly while Kyosuke and his father just observed the whole scene with equally curious expressions on their face.

'Baby,' Keisuke said, 'we all make mistakes and if he thinks he can fix whatever he's done in five minutes, you should at least let him have a go.'

'But Dad…'

'If the worse comes to the worst and you don't forgive him,' Keisuke carried on, 'then I'll gladly beat the crap out of him for making you suffer as I promised I would when I allowed him to start seeing you.'

Kyoko and Akiko now allowed themselves a soft chuckle for they both finally recognised a bit of Keisuke's former, younger self.

'Okay,' Ryoko agreed sounding rather reluctant, making Akito feel quite bad about the fact that she was only agreeing because of her father's influence on her.

At long last and as Keisuke ushered everyone along the house's main corridor, Akito entered the house while Ryoko went back into the living room then, as he went to step in it, Akito saw Kyoko kissing Keisuke on his cheek making him look extremely smug. This made Akito's lips curve up in an involuntary smile.

'So, what do you want to tell me?' he then heard Ryoko ask and he felt his smile vanish as quickly as it had appeared.

Turning round slowly so he could face his girlfriend, he walked into the room and said:

'I just wanted to give you this.'

'Wha…' Ryoko gasped staring at the little dark blue box Akito was holding right in front of her.

'It's not exactly what you think,' Akito said, 'please, open it so I can explain.'

Ryoko took the box with a visibly shaky hand and opening it, she saw a thin white gold band.

'It matches this one,' Akito added as he pulled an identical one out of the front pocket of his jeans showing it to his girlfriend.

'I don't understand,' Ryoko whispered as she looked at both rings alternatively.

'Well,' Akito started, 'we're both nineteen so I thought that we were a tad too young to start thinking of getting married: you're about to start your second year of university and I'm still quite far from being an accomplished professional racer so, I thought that the next best thing was to get us these.'

'But…'

'Ryoko,' Akito continued, 'if we wear these rings we'll be telling everyone that we belong to each other and I'm hoping that this will reassure you enough so you can trust me the way I trust you.'

'Akito…'

'Because you've got to trust me when I say that it's better for the two of us if you don't come to the races anymore. I can't explain to you the exact reasons but I really would prefer if you stayed home while I'm away at the circuits.'

'So you still don't want me around during the races?' Ryoko asked as she frowned at him.

'Ryoko, please look at the ring,' Akito said instead of replying to her question and as she took the white gold band out of the box, she looked at the inside of the ring.

'What's this?'

'I told the jeweller that it was a question of life or death so I managed to get him to engrave both of our rings when I bought them this morning.'

'But what's 05-05-11?' Ryoko asked still sounding confused even though she was clearly no longer angry at him.

'It's May fifth 2011,' Akito replied, 'the day I fell in love with you,' he added looking at her straight in the eye.

'But, you were…'

'Five and a half years old,' Akito finished for her.

Ryoko glanced at the ring she had on her palm lifting her eyes to look back at her boyfriend and as she did that Akito saw that she was on the verge of crying.

'Baby…' he said worriedly.

'Why do you always manage to make me feel this way?' Ryoko asked him miserably.

'Feel what way?' Akito asked back getting increasingly concerned.

The girl sighed in exasperation before she closed the gap between them; she then grabbed the front of Akito's already crumpled t-shirt with her free hand, getting him to lower down so she could kiss him.

'This way,' she replied as she broke contact with him without letting go of his t-shirt.

'I don't know,' Akito said finally allowing himself to grin at her, 'maybe it's because I love you.'

'Yeah,' Ryoko said smiling back at him, 'it might be that.'

'So, do you want us to put them on?' Akito asked her looking down at her right hand in which she still held her ring.

'How about if I put yours on and you do the same with mine?' she suggested.

'Alright,' Akito agreed and taking the ring from Ryoko, he slid it into her left hand's ring finger then the girl did the same with Akito's.

'Do you know that it looks like we're married now?' Ryoko asked lifting his left hand with hers and looking at the two rings.

'Uh-huh,' Akito replied, 'that's exactly what I want.'

Ryoko laughed softly before she hugged him snuggling herself against his right shoulder.

'Oh gosh,' she complained pulling herself away from him, 'you need to take a shower,' she added scrunching up her nose.

'Yeah,' Akito said scratching the back of his head as he did every time he felt embarrassed, 'I don't think you're into the whole caveman-like smell, are you?'

Ryoko's fit of laughter attracted the rest of the Takahashi back into the room and seeing the girl's obvious display of happiness made all smile at the young couple.

'See?' Keisuke said to everyone, 'five minutes always work wonders.'

A few minutes later and after kissing Ryoko once more, Akito followed Kyosuke and Keisuke out of their house to go to the centre leaving the two other Takahashi women admiring Ryoko's brand new ring.

Once at the centre and as Akito was getting ready for the team's practice, Kyosuke came into the small changing room and leaning his tall figure onto the door's frame, he said:

'So, are you and Ryoko engaged now?'

'Kind of,' Akito replied.

'I see,' Kyosuke said with the monotone he always used to prevent himself from showing any emotion then, as turned round to leave, Akito walked towards him with his racing suit's top hanging off his hips and said:

'Kyosuke, what's wrong with you?'

'Nothing…' the oldest of the Takahashi brothers started but then they both heard a beeping sound coming from Kyosuke's pocket who, pulling his phone out of it looked at the display, 'sorry, we'll talk later.'

With that Akito saw as Kyosuke pressed the button to answer the call as he walked out of the room and along the corridor. There Akito saw Hiroki making his way towards the changing room.

'Hey,' Hiroki said.

'You're late,' Akito pointed out for it was indeed five minutes to eleven and the training session was scheduled to start at precisely eleven o'clock.

'I know,' Hiroki said trying to use a bit of his old self's cheek.

'Hurry up then,' Akito added sounding unimpressed as he took his gloves and his helmet and, without bothering to do his racing suit's zip up, he walked out of the room not even glancing back at a very sorry looking Hiroki.

The twenty year old joined the team a few minutes after eleven as they were all preparing the two cars and as Akito was strapping his helmet on.

'Where's your girlfriend?' Hiroki asked him looking around for Ryoko.

'That's none of your business,' Akito replied, the harshness of his voice obvious even through his helmet's half open visor.

'I'm sorry, it's just that she's always around and…' Hiroki started saying then, noticing the ring in Akito's left hand he turned round and said, 'forget it…'

'Hiroki,' he heard Akito say, 'if you want me to believe what you told me last night, you better stay away from her, understood?'

'Loud and clear,' Hiroki replied without turning back to face Akito which prevented the nineteen year old from seeing Hiroki's pain-filled expression.

At long last, Akito and Hiroki rolled both of their GP2 cars out of the garage and Hiroki followed his team mate onto the track where, slowly at first picking up speed as they went on, both single-seaters started trying to beat the track's record, currently held by Akito himself.

For a few laps the nineteen year old managed to forget about his fight with Ryoko and about the fact that he hadn't slept at all in over twenty four hours as he let himself enjoy doing what he loved the most in the world.

He had real fun when he was driving the small and extremely light car as fast as the engine could push it; feeling the g-forces pulling him in the corner's opposite direction and the physical effort he had to make in order to keep his head straight and facing forward.

He also loved playing with the pedals and the steering wheel in order to come out with better ways to take the turns, drawing lines on the tarmac trying to figure out which one of them made him go faster.

All of this while paying close attention to every one of the engine's sounds and the general behaviour of his machine in case he found any problem with any of its mechanical components so he could, later on, report it to Kyosuke and the rest of the team.

'You're doing great,' he heard the oldest of his two best friends say, 'keep it up and you'll beat your record today.'

'I'll do my best,' Akito said as he started pushing it a bit more, 'by the way, the engine feels great.'

He heard Kyosuke's soft chuckle as he sped through the circuit's main straight where he saw Hiroki's single-seater through the tiny set of rear view mirrors that the car came equipped with approaching at a very high speed.

Akito didn't even pay attention to that fact for he was aware that that morning's practice session was to test the new engine Fumihiro and Kenta had designed with the help of Kyosuke and Kizuna so, as he entered the first right hand corner after the start line, Akito just let Hiroki's car get closer to him.

However, all of this changed when he saw that his team mate had every intention of overtaking him right at that corner making Akito's instinct as racer get the best of him.

'As if I'm gonna let you pass,' he muttered under his breath.

Turning the wheel towards the inside of the turn, Akito completely closed Hiroki's line effectively blocking him and thus preventing his team mate from getting ahead. Akito then pressed the accelerator at mid-corner widening the gap between both cars as he did so.

As it was to be expected, Hiroki's own competitive nature didn't want to let Akito get away so easily either so the older guy also started flooring the throttle.

'Boys,' they both heard Takumi say, 'take it easy.'

This made Akito smirk as he entered the next corner, a wide left hander one where, once more, Hiroki tried to pass Akito with the younger man blocking yet again his team mate's attack.

The two of them repeated the same pattern for quite a few corners until at the last, high speed right turn where, as Akito prepared himself to close Hiroki's line on the inside, the twenty year old veered towards the opposite direction catching Akito by surprise.

'Crap,' Akito whispered seeing that Hiroki's car was levelling with his as they both cruised through the right hander with Akito forced to drive on the inside of it.

Giving as much gas as he could to the engine Akito managed to make his car's nose stick out of the corner with just the front wing ahead of his team mate's then Akito felt his eyes widen in shock as he saw that, for some reason, the side of Hiroki's car started getting much too close to his own.

Predictably enough and as they exited the turn with the two cars only a hair away from each other, Hiroki's front wing punctured Akito's left front tyre sending Akito's car into a wind spin which thankfully enough ended with it stuck into the gravel. Hiroki's now damaged front wing made him lose control of his car sending it straight into a nearby wall.

'YOU TWO: GET BACK IN HERE, NOW!' they both heard Keisuke shouting furiously.

_To be continued…_


	6. Chapter Five

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Five_

Akito would have laughed at the way Hiroki kept himself within a relatively safe distance from his team mate as though as he feared that Akito would start his retaliation while both young men walked back to the boxes. However and thinking of all the damage Hiroki had managed to cause him, not to mention what awaited both of them when they would be face to face with a more than furious Takahashi Keisuke, killed Akito's mirth almost instantly.

They finally stepped into the boxes just as Kenta and one of the junior mechanics climbed into the truck so they could tow both crashed cars back into the boxes.

'Now,' Keisuke said with his voice trembling with barely controlled fury, 'what in the heck was that?'

Akito swallowed as he stole a quick glance at his father who stood there, arms crossed on his chest and with an unreadable expression which reminded Akito a lot of the way his grandfather looked when he wanted to conceal his true feelings. Next to him he saw Kyosuke and Fumihiro and the rest of the team's staff while Kizuna was no where to be seen.

'Er…' Hiroki started.

'It was an accident,' Akito said both interrupting and startling the twenty year old, 'we got a bit overzealous and we crashed. We didn't do it on purpose, did we?' he added looking at Hiroki who started shaking his head immediately.

'Is that so?' Keisuke asked Hiroki obviously not believing a single word of what Akito was saying.

'Yes,' Hiroki replied 'I'm sorry.'

Keisuke looked back and forth at his two drivers then he glanced at Takumi who just nodded once.

'Fine,' Keisuke said, 'but,' he added wiggling a finger in front of them, 'if you ever pull a stunt like that ever again, I'll withdraw the team from the GP2 championship, is that understood?'

Akito frowned as he nodded for he thought it had been way too easy.

'You,' Keisuke continued now pointing at Hiroki, 'go and get changed. I want you to go home and think about what you've done and about the money this is going to cost to the team.'

Hiroki nodded even more vigorously than earlier before walking away to where the changing room was.

'You,' Keisuke repeated now looking at Akito, 'I haven't finished with you yet so come with me.'

So much for an easy escape, Akito thought miserably as he followed Keisuke to the back of the boxes with Takumi walking after them too.

'Now,' Keisuke started, still sounding extremely pissed off, 'I've never expected much of Hiroki because he's just the way he is.'

Akito found himself nodding to that.

'However,' Keisuke continued, 'I expect a lot more from you and what you did just now is plain idiotic. Have you forgotten what it's like to crash your car after a puncture?'

'No, I haven't,' Akito replied swallowing as he brought his hand up to his right shoulder instinctively.

'Right,' Keisuke said, 'I don't know what's going on with you two, again, but, whatever it is, you need to fix it out of the track for whether you like it or not, inside it he's your team mate and you've got to work together, is that clear?'

'Yes, sir,' Akito replied nodding once more.

'Good,' Keisuke said then, looking at Takumi, he added, 'do you want to add anything to what I said?'

Akito saw as his father nodded and that made him feel even more uneasy.

'Yes,' Takumi replied, his voice sounding eerily calm, 'I'd just like to remind Akito that until October 21st he's still underage and that if he does something as stupid as this ever again the only thing he'll be driving till then will be a shopping trolley.'

'Fair enough,' Keisuke said as he turned his gaze back to a horrified looking Akito, 'now go and get changed, thanks to you the guys here will have enough work to keep them busy for quite a while.'

'Yes, sir,' Akito said then, braving it as well as he could, he looked at his father who just ignored him as he turned round and walked away to re-join the rest of the team.

That hurt more than anything that had happened to Akito in the past twenty four hours and Akito felt almost sorry that Hiroki wasn't in the changing room as he got there for he would have gladly used him to release a bit of his pent up frustration.

'Fucking lucky bastard,' Akito muttered as he took his bag out of his locker so he could get changed.

'Talking to yourself now?' Akito heard Kyosuke say coming through the doorway then, without giving Akito time to reply, he added, 'I guess you've just had a really nice chat with my uncle, huh?'

'Yeah,' Akito said trying to sound as cheerfully as possible.

'What's happened now between you and Hiroki?' Kyosuke asked, 'does it have anything to do with the fight you and Ryoko had last night?'

Akito stopped fumbling with the stuff inside his bag and sighing dejectedly he sat down on the room's bench as he started explaining the whole thing to the older of his two best friends.

'Wow,' Kyosuke said as Akito finished, 'don't you think that this is a bit much? I mean, I know Hiroki's crazy but, falling for your team mate's girlfriend it's just totally suicidal.'

'I know,' Akito said, 'but that's what I believe and I just don't want to take any risks, like you said, Hiroki's nuts and I'm afraid he may try to come on to Ryoko if he's around her.'

'I see what you mean,' Kyosuke said as he frowned worriedly.

'Yeah, I don't think you'd like it either if you were in my shoes,' Akito added and he then saw Kyosuke's eyes widen for just a fraction of a second, 'Kyosuke, I'm not the only one who's in trouble, am I?'

Kyosuke bowed his head down as he looked at the floor then he nodded a couple of times very slowly before lifting his eyes to look back at Akito.

'I think I've screwed up with Kizuna,' he finally said.

'What? How?' Akito asked feeling his own eyes widen with the shock for he had never known a couple with a more solid and stable relationship than the one of his best friend had with Kizuna.

'After the race in Australia,' Kyosuke explained, 'I proposed to Kizuna.'

'You what?' Akito exclaimed getting up from the bench toppling it over in the process.

'And she said no,' Kyosuke continued as though as Akito hadn't interrupted him.

'W-why?' Akito stuttered still too shocked to be able to form coherent sentences.

'Because I can't comply with the only condition she has so she says yes and because of this we're now taking some time off,' Kyosuke said.

'But…she…and…you…' Akito tried and failed to say that he had seen the two of them together during the team's practice talking to each other as they always did.

'We've decided to pretend that everything's fine,' Kyosuke said, 'this in order to make it possible for the two of us to work together.'

'But…'

'Akito,' Kyosuke said now looking definitely miserable, 'please don't tell anyone what I've just said. Not even Seisuke knows about this.'

'Why not?' Akito asked.

'You know him,' Kyosuke replied, 'he'll worry himself sick and he'll start trying to come up with some sort of bizarre plan to bring us back together. Besides, he's got enough problems dealing with Misa's accident and I don't want him to think of anything else but her.'

'Where's Kizuna now?' Akito asked.

'She's gone home, she had things to do.'

'I see,' Akito said then, as an afterthought, he added, 'I guess you can't tell me what the condition is, can you?'

'Of course I can,' Kyosuke replied, 'she wants us to move to the US as soon as this season's over.'

'Oh crap,' Akito said.

'As you'll understand, I can't possibly do that,' Kyosuke continued, 'my life is here and as much as I liked the US when I went over to South Carolina, I belong in here and I'd really have a hard time separating myself from my friends and family.'

'I guess it's the same for Kizuna,' Akito said without even thinking.

'It is,' Kyosuke agreed, 'which is precisely the reason why she wants us to move there: she misses her family a lot and the worst bit is that I can't even blame her for not warning me in advance.'

'What do you mean?'

'When we got together it was the first issue that we had to confront,' Kyosuke explained, 'Akito you must know that Kizuna never had any intentions of being here for as long as she's been. She was going to finish her degree and move straight back to the US but…'

'She met you and you wrecked her plans,' Akito finished for him.

'Exactly,' Kyosuke said as he leant against the set of lockers screwed onto the wall, 'and now I'm going to lose her forever,' he added sounding as close to crying as Akito had ever seen him.

Akito looked at him and for some unknown reason he started playing with his new ring trying to imagine how it'd be if Ryoko forced him to make such a choice.

'Is there anything we can do?' he asked.

'No,' Kyosuke said shaking his head making his bleached spikes move too, 'I guess I'm lucky: she's given me until the end of the season to decide what to do so I have over six months to make my mind up.'

'You love her,' Akito said in what was more a statement rather than a question.

'Of course,' Kyosuke replied nonetheless.

'Well,' Akito said, feeling very uneasy for he wasn't used to being the one giving advice to Kyosuke, 'I can't tell you what to do but I can assure you that I'd be your best friend even if you lived in freaking Antarctica so, as far as I'm concerned you've got my support regardless of what you do.'

Kyosuke looked slightly taken aback by this and, in what was a really rare display of affection for someone as stoic as him, he walked towards the younger man and gave him a quick hug.

'Thanks,' he added as he separated himself from Akito.

'Don't mention it,' Akito replied feeling quite self-conscious all of a sudden.

'Regarding Ryoko,' Kyosuke said as he tried to cover his own embarrassment, 'I wouldn't worry about her, she loves you more than anyone else including us so I seriously doubt Hiroki stands a chance with her. However, I'll keep an eye on him too, just in case, okay?'

'Thanks,' Akito said.

'Now, I better go,' Kyosuke started, 'I've got a couple of cars that need to be fixed up,' he added smirking at Akito, he then turned round and left the younger man alone so he could finally have a much needed shower.

A few days later and since nowadays Seisuke was practically living with Misa and Akito had told Ryoko not to go with them to the airport, no one was there to see them off as they travelled back to Europe where the Spanish GP2 race would be held at the Montmelò circuit near Barcelona. Akito glanced at his father, who was currently sitting by his side on the plane, feeling happy that his old man was no longer upset with him.

'Uncle Itsuki will record everything, won't he?' Akito asked him.

'Yeah, he will,' Takumi replied looking a tad on the worried side, 'but I still wish I was there.'

'I know,' Akito agreed, 'I don't like missing Haruko's first race of the season either.'

'I still can't believe she's going to compete in the Junior Karting Championship,' Kizuna said joining in the conversation from the seat at the other side of Akito.

'She's a Fujiwara,' Kyosuke told her from his seat at the row in front of them, 'so she's just carrying on with the family's racing tradition.'

'I guess so,' Kizuna said and exchanging a weird look with Kyosuke, she turned her attention to the motorsports magazine she had in her hands.

Akito looked at Kyosuke briefly before the twenty four year old man re-took his seat by Hiroki who, thankfully enough, chose to remain quiet.

Meanwhile, back at Gunma, Bunta was driving Haruko and Natsuki in his old GC8 towards the karting circuit where the eleven year old girl would be racing in just a few hours time.

'Do you remember what I always say?' Bunta asked to his granddaughter.

'Yes,' Haruko replied, 'I'll just go for the victory.'

'Good girl,' Bunta said.

'Bunta,' Natsuki asked from the passenger seat, 'don't you have any advice for her?'

'I don't need it,' Haruko said confidently, 'because to win I just have to drive faster than anyone else.'

'Uh-huh,' Bunta confirmed smiling proudly at the girl through the rear view mirror.

'Great,' Natsuki said almost sarcastically.

'Come on Mum,' Haruko started, 'it's not like Oniichan's races: my kart only goes at eighty kilometres per hour.'

'Yeah,' Bunta agreed, 'I go faster just by letting my car roll downhill.'

'Speaking of which,' Haruko said before Natsuki could reply to the old man's remark, 'when do you think I'll be tall enough to drive your car?'

'WHAT?' Natsuki exclaimed making both Bunta and Haruko laugh.

'Come on, Mum,' Haruko said, 'I was just kidding.'

'Or not,' Bunta muttered.

'Bunta,' Natsuki said warningly, 'there's no way I'll let my daughter drive your car until she's got her driving license!'

'Yeah, sure,' both Haruko and Bunta replied at the same time using such an incredulous tone of voice that it made them start laughing all over again.

'Why didn't I go with Itsuki in the van?' Natsuki asked to no one in particular as she looked longingly to the white and blue van which was currently trying to keep up with Bunta's Subaru.

Fifteen minutes later Natsuki was only too happy to get out of the car where she'd been trapped for over half an hour with the two craziest people she'd met in her whole life.

Haruko climbed out of the GC8 and smiled seeing that the object of her affections, Iketani Hikaru was there with his father and was about to call out his name when, to her utmost disappointment, she saw that Yoshiko was there too with her father.

'What is she doing in here?' she whispered furiously to her mother.

'I guess Kenji brought her with him to cheer for you too,' Natsuki replied.

'She doesn't even like karting,' Haruko spat angrily as she decided to walk to where the van was parked and where Bunta was already helping Itsuki unload Haruko's small kart.

'Hi there,' Itsuki's twelve year old son said as he climbed out of his father's van.

'Hey Toshi,' she greeted him.

'Ready for the race?' the boy asked her.

'Yeah,' she said then, seeing that Hikaru and Yoshiko were making their way towards them with their respective fathers, she whispered to Toshi, 'pretend I've just said something funny.'

'What?' Toshi asked looking very confused.

'Come on!' Haruko ordered, 'laugh!'

Clearly not understanding anything, the poor Toshi decided to obey for he had known his best friend for long enough to realise that what the girl said didn't always make sense.

'What's so funny?' Hikaru asked to the younger boy as the three ex-Lonely Drivers busied themselves trying to help Bunta with the kart.

'Oh, nothing, just a private joke of ours,' Haruko replied dismissively.

'Yeah, that's right,' Toshi agreed deciding to continue playing along with Haruko's crazy game.

'Ah, I see,' Hikaru said and Haruko smiled feeling very satisfied to see that the fourteen year old didn't look entirely happy.

'So,' Yoshiko started, trying to get Hikaru's attention back to her, 'tell me again what's so interesting about all of this?' she added looking around herself at all the teams which were busy preparing their karts for the race.

'Yoshiko,' Hikaru said, 'sometimes I find it hard to believe your Dad and Mum used to be street racers.'

'Come on,' Yoshiko said, 'Dad wasn't all that good and Mum served only as navigator to your mother.'

Haruko snorted loudly as she looked at Yoshiko disdainfully.

'What's up with you?' the thirteen year old girl asked.

'Nothing,' Haruko replied, 'it's just that you should be ashamed of yourself,' she added flatly.

'Say that again,' Yoshiko challenged her walking towards Haruko so that she could tower over the younger girl.

'Alright,' Haruko said and, refusing to let Yoshiko's slightly bigger constitution intimidate her, she repeated, 'you should be ashamed of yourself.'

'She's right,' Toshi agreed, 'you shouldn't speak like that about your parents.'

'Right,' the girl said, 'as if you could be proud of your father's past as racer.'

'Actually,' Toshi said, as usual not taking offence even when being so blatantly insulted, 'I am very proud of what my father did in his time…'

'Yeah, right…'

'Yoshiko,' Hikaru finally interrupted her, 'Haruko's right: your parents are my parents' best friends and I don't like the way you always speak about them.'

'Come on Hikaru!' Yoshiko exclaimed angrily, 'I know you know she's got a crush on you but don't need to defend her like that!'

Haruko had never wished to disappear more than she did at that precise instant.

_To be continued…_


	7. Chapter Six

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Six_

It only took Haruko a quick look around herself to realise that everyone, including the five adults present, had heard Yoshiko's nasty remark and feeling her face burn with shame, Haruko started running trying to get as far away from the group as possible.

'Haruko, wait!' Hikaru exclaimed and just as he was about to follow her, Toshi made a gesture with his hand to stop the older boy.

'I'll go and talk to her,' the twelve years old said and before Bunta or Natsuki could do anything, the boy started running after Haruko, finally catching up with her as she was about to exit the karting circuit's venue, 'hey!' he exclaimed as he grabbed her by one of her thin arms.

'What do you want?' Haruko asked refusing to turn round and judging by the way her small shoulders were shaking, Toshi guessed the girl was either crying or getting dangerously close to it.

'Firstly, I'd like you to look at me,' the boy said, 'then, maybe, we could go somewhere a bit less crowded so we can talk,' he added.

Slowly, Haruko turned round and Toshi saw that the girl's eyes were indeed shining a lot more than usual and, seeing that, he started feeling an irrational burst of anger towards both Hikaru and Yoshiko.

'Let's go there, alright?' he asked pointing at a deserted area of the track where they seemed to keep some spare tyres for the walls which delimited the track and other necessary equipment.

'Alright,' the girl muttered with a shaky voice.

Taking her hand, Toshi made his way with her to where he'd suggested and taking a seat on top of a pile of ancient looking tyres, he invited Haruko to do the same.

'Why didn't you tell me?' Toshi asked her.

'Tell you what?' she asked back.

'Come on Haruko,' Toshi said, 'don't try to pretend you don't know what I'm talking about.'

'I know,' Haruko admitted, 'and I don't know why I didn't tell you. I guess it was embarrassing.'

'I can understand that,' Toshi said, 'but it still hurts. I'm supposed to be your best friend,' he added.

'You are,' Haruko assured him, 'I'm sorry.'

'Not sorrier than I am,' Toshi said.

'Why?' Haruko asked him suddenly feeling very confused.

'Because I should have noticed,' Toshi replied, 'but I guess I've been too focused with the team.'

'Hey,' Haruko started, 'it's normal that you pay more attention to that than you do to me. I keep doing the same with you all the time!'

'Yes, that you do,' Toshi agreed with a smile, 'but you know that football will never be more important to me than you are.'

Haruko glanced at him with a weird look on her face then, deciding that she was probably imagining things, she shook her head briefly before saying:

'You're going to be the best striker in the world, you'll see!' she exclaimed.

'I'll do my best,' he said nodding, 'just as my dad did when he was trying to be a street racer.'

'That's why you're so proud of him, isn't it?' Haruko asked.

'Yes,' Toshi replied, 'he knew he wasn't very good at driving but he still did his best. I know I'm far from being the best footballer in the world but I still do my best when I play.'

'Your best?' Haruko asked sarcastically, 'you scored two goals in your last game!' she exclaimed making poor Toshi get extremely flustered.

'Yeah, well…' he said smiling while trying to hide the fact that he'd liked receiving Haruko's prise a lot more than it was normal, 'anyway, you've got to get ready for the race, don't you?' he asked getting serious once again.

'Yeah, I do,' Haruko replied.

'Hey,' Toshi said, 'don't think about what Yoshiko's said, she's a really silly girl.'

'I thought you liked her,' Haruko said frowning at him.

'What? No way!' Toshi exclaimed, unable to believe how very clueless his best friend could sometimes be while at the same time feeling really grateful that she was that way, 'she's stupid and extremely full of herself,' he added.

'Yeah, she is,' Haruko agreed whole-heartedly.

'I can't believe such nice people as her parents are could produce such a daughter,' Toshi commented.

The two kids spent a few more minutes talking before Toshi, deciding that Haruko was ready to rejoin the group of people, took her hand once again and the two of them walked back to the van where Haruko could put her racing suit on.

'Haruko,' Hikaru started saying seeing the girl walking towards them.

'Not now,' the girl said, 'I've got a race in a few minutes and I've got to concentrate,' she added shocking everyone with her maturity and making Bunta chuckle as he looked at his granddaughter proudly.

Twenty minutes later and with her kart placed in the fifth position on the grid, Haruko waited until they gave them the signal which would start the race then, seeing the green light, she floored the small pedal which controlled the throttle of her kart making it go as fast as possible, overtaking the vehicle in fourth position and getting ready to attack the one in third just as they reached the first corner.

'Wow!' Toshi exclaimed.

'Go, baby go!' Natsuki exclaimed as usual being the one who got the most enthusiastic when one of her two kids raced.

'Hey, don't get so excited,' Bunta said as he laughed at her.

'Yeah,' Iketani said, 'you always complain about how dangerous this is and then you get like this.

'Hey,' Natsuki complained, 'I like speed as much as you guys do, it's just that when it's your kids the ones who are racing it's a completely different thing.'

'Will you two be quiet?' Itsuki whispered furiously as he pointed at the camcorder he had in his hand.

'Sorry,' Iketani said.

Meanwhile and as Haruko was beginning her assault on the kart in second position, having already overtaken the one in third, Toshi made his way to where Hikaru and Yoshiko were then, keeping his voice as low as possible, he asked:

'Can I have a word with you?'

'Sure,' Hikaru replied and, excusing himself with the thirteen year old girl, he followed Toshi to a quieter area away from the track's perimeter.

'How do you feel about Haruko?' Toshi asked.

'What?' Hikaru exclaimed looking very much taken aback by Toshi's completely unexpected question.

'You heard me,' Toshi said.

'But, I…'

'Hey, it's a very simple question,' Toshi insisted, 'do you like her or not?'

Hikaru looked at the younger boy, surprised to hear the unusually aggressive tone of voice Toshi was using for, unlike his father, the boy was always very calm and didn't get easily emotional.

'You do, don't you?' Hikaru asked Toshi, taking a wild guess.

'Yes, I do,' Toshi admitted shamelessly.

'Oh, I see,' Hikaru said.

'You still haven't answered my question,' Toshi reminded him making Hikaru look at him for another while before shaking his head.

'I'm sorry,' the fourteen year old said, 'she's a really nice girl and she's an exceptional driver but…she just turned eleven.'

'You don't need to explain to me the reasons,' Toshi said feeling a sudden rush of happiness, 'I'm just glad I don't have to consider you a rival.'

'Don't worry about me,' he said laughing softly putting his hands up, 'I'm kind of interested in someone else anyway.'

'Yoshiko?' Toshi asked him.

'Oh God no!' Hikaru exclaimed shaking his head vigorously, 'it's a girl from the tennis club from the school, but I don't think she even knows that I exist,' he added.

'Yeah, I know how that feels,' Toshi said miserably.

'How so?' You and Haruko are best friends, aren't you?' Hikaru asked.

'Yeah,' Toshi replied flatly, 'key word: friends. She'll never see me as anything else but the boy she's used to boss around.'

'We're really lucky, aren't we?' Hikaru asked sarcastically and that made the two boys look at each other for a while before they burst out laughing at their complete lack of luck when it came to their love life.

'What's so funny?' Yoshiko asked them as she was walking towards where they were.

'Nothing,' Hikaru said, 'let's go and watch the rest of the race.'

'Yeah, let's do that,' Toshi agreed and, ignoring the poor Yoshiko, the two of them made their way back to the small grandstand where the adults were, forcing the thirteen years old to follow them.

By the time the three of them made it to their seats, they saw that Haruko was fighting with the kart number three which was currently in first position and happened to be driven by the very same boy who had got the car rental's company sponsorship instead of Haruko.

'Not good,' Hikaru heard his father say.

'What's wrong?' Toshi asked.

'That boy's kart's faster than Haruko's,' Bunta replied.

'What? No way!', Toshi exclaimed.

'It is,' Kenji confirmed, 'just look at the way they go around the corners.'

'Haruko's losing out to him at the exits,' Iketani explained to the two stunned looking boys.

'Is he really faster than Haruko?' Natsuki asked.

'Not really,' Bunta replied, 'I think something's wrong with Haruko's kart.'

'But you checked it before the race, didn't you?' Natsuki asked to her father in law sounding horribly worried.

'I did,' Bunta replied, 'I think it's happened during the race,' he explained and, for a brief second he looked quite concerned too.

'Should we ask her to stop?' Iketani asked to the old man.

'Absolutely not,' Bunta replied shaking his head, 'looking at how she's trying to overcome whichever problem she has, it'd be stupid to ask her to quit.'

'I see,' Iketani said feeling suddenly ashamed of even thinking of asking to a Fujiwara to give up while racing.

'Look at that!' Toshi exclaimed all of a sudden, earning himself a glare from his father who was still trying to record the race but then, seeing what his son was pointing at made Itsuki forget all about the camcorder:

Haruko, fighting to keep the kart firmly on the line she wanted kept the front bumper glued to the rear one of the kart she had ahead of her then, using the inertia of one of the high speed corners, she let the four wheels of her small vehicle slide sideways towards the outside in what was an almost perfect looking drift before accelerating at the kart's maximum speed, passing a hair away from the wall of tyres.

'What is she doing?' Kenji shouted.

'She's going for it,' Bunta replied as he found himself holding his breath, unable to believe how excited he was getting for what was a relatively unimportant race for not even Akito's GP2 races made him feel that way.

'Come on!' Toshi exclaimed and soon even Yoshiko had joined in the cheering as they all saw Haruko pushing the poor kart well beyond its limits then, as the boy and herself entered the last corner of the last lap with both karts levelled with each other, the boy slowed down slightly while Haruko chose not to brake at all as she just went flat out into the turn.

'She's gonna crash!' Yoshiko shouted and everyone glared at her.

Proving her wrong, Haruko not only didn't crash but managed to drive over the finish line with more than half a kart of advantage over her opponent.

'YES!' Toshi exclaimed jumping up and down and Hikaru smiled at him seeing him, once again, getting uncharacteristically emotional about the girl's victory.

'My baby's won!' Natsuki said hugging Bunta who trained his features to hide the fact that she had made him feel rather flustered.

'We'll have to go and check the kart,' Bunta said and, as usual, what was a simple suggestion of his was immediately taken as an order and all three of the ex-Lonely Drivers followed him towards where a radiant looking Haruko was.

'Grandpa! I've won!' the girl exclaimed and this time it was Bunta who hugged the little girl.

'What happened to the kart?' Bunta asked her as he crouched next to the vehicle.

'It lost speed half way through the race,' she replied, 'I don't know why.'

'Alright, we'll check it out later,' Bunta said, 'now you've got to collect your price.'

She did and after posing for a quick picture, with the boy in second position looking positively sullen, she rejoined the group with her new trophy.

'We're running out of space in the house for those things,' Natsuki complained for there were enough cups and other kind of awards in the Fujiwara's house to fill up an entire room with them.

'Oh be quiet mum,' Haruko said still smiling, 'I still haven't got anywhere near as many trophies as Oniichan does.'

'He's eight years older than you are,' Natsuki countered.

'That's true,' the girl admitted.

'Hey, well done,' Toshi said patting her on one of Haruko's small shoulders and the girl was about to say something when she saw Hikaru there too.

'Er…' Hikaru started, managing to wipe her smile out of her face.

'If you knew, why didn't you say something about it?' she asked, no longer caring if everyone overheard their conversation.

'I just…' Hikaru started.

'You think I'm too young, don't you?' Haruko asked.

'Yeah, sorry,' Hikaru replied, deciding to be honest with the girl.

'Fine,' she said, shocking him and everyone else in the process, 'I won't be this age forever and maybe, when I'll be older, you'll probably change your mind.'

With that, she just turned towards Toshi who couldn't help but to smile at the complete astounded look that had appeared on Hikaru's face.

'When it comes to racing she may be a Fujiwara,' Bunta muttered, talking to Natsuki, 'but right there, she was very much your daughter.'

'I know,' Natsuki said looking at her little girl proudly even though she was a bit worried. For this reason, the woman decided to make herself a mental note to talk to Haruko about certain things the girl needed to know when it came to boys and stuff like that.

A couple of days later and across the globe, Hiroki was sitting on his own at a small bar he'd found while wandering by himself around the Catalan town of Montmelò which gave its name to the circuit where, that very same day, Akito had claimed the pole position while he had only managed to get the fourth spot on the grid.

'Hey,' he heard some guy say, 'you're Japanese too, aren't you?'

Hiroki lifted his eyes from the half empty glass of beer he had been drinking to find himself staring at a countryman who looked to be in his mid thirties.

'Yeah,' Hiroki replied before returning his gaze to his drink.

'I'm from Osaka,' the guy said taking the seat next to Hiroki's.

'I kind of guessed that from the accent,' Hiroki commented for the guy indeed had the distinctive inflection common to all the people coming from the Kansai area.

'Where are you from?' the guy asked.

'Tochigi,' Hiroki replied as he began to wonder why he was so unlucky that he couldn't even brood in peace.

'Ah, that's in Kanto, isn't it?'

'Yes,' Hiroki replied, 'look, not to be rude or anything but, what do you want?'

The guy looked a bit taken aback for just a second before performing an admirably fast recovery.

'I'm just trying to make conversation,' the guy said, 'I haven't spoken my own language for ages and I…'

'Hey, it's fine,' Hiroki said suddenly feeling quite bad for the poor guy, 'I've just been a bit edgy for a while.'

'Ah, I see,' the guy said, 'you do look as though as you could do with getting it off your chest.'

Hiroki stared at the guy for a while before deciding that he was right and, after the guy had ordered another couple of beers, Hiroki found himself explaining everything to this guy not caring that he didn't even know the guy's name.

By the time he finished, he was indeed feeling a lot better and he wished he'd had someone to talk to who could, just like this guy, remain completely neutral about the whole thing.

'You know what I think?,' the guy asked.

'What?' Hiroki asked downing the rest of his third beer.

'I don't think you should give up like that,' the guy replied.

'But she's in a relationship, didn't I tell you that?' Hiroki countered beginning to have trouble remembering what he had told to the guy because of all the alcohol he had in his bloodstream.

'So what? She's not married yet, is she?' the guy asked.

'No, she's not but, she's…'

'Until she's married, she's allowed to change her mind,' the guy insisted, 'I'd go for it if I were you.'

Hiroki looked at the guy and something within himself started rebelling against the small voice of reason who had kept telling him to stay away from Ryoko.

'Goddamit, you're right!' Hiroki exclaimed hitting the bar with his fist, 'why should I give up? I'm in love with her.'

The twenty year old was so engulfed in his newfound enthusiasm to notice the positively evil way in which the guy was smiling at him.

_To be continued…_


	8. Chapter Seven

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Seven_

The morning after the Takawara Racing Team was gathered at their hotel having breakfast when, ten minutes after their agreed rendezvous time, Hiroki finally showed up looking quite rough.

'Are you okay?' Kizuna asked him while Akito and Kyosuke exchanged a worry-laden look.

'Yeah,' Hiroki replied as he helped himself to some much needed coffee, 'just a bit of a headache,' he lied for he felt so hangover he vowed to himself never to go anywhere near beer ever again.

'Do you want anything for it?' Kizuna offered.

'No, thanks,' Hiroki said.

Everyone at the table looked at him then Fumihiro tried to remove their attention from the poor Hiroki, demonstrating once more the reason why he'd always been the spokesperson for all the teams he'd been with by saying:

'Are we all ready?'

'Yes!' Kenta exclaimed so loudly that it made the poor Hiroki wince.

They arrived at the circuit half an hour later and they walked back into the boxes followed by a few journalists, each of whom seemed to want some of Akito's time. Observing this scene made Hiroki remember what had happened the previous night and his conversation with that strange man.

He smiled remembering how brave he'd been then, when his courage was fuelled up by three beers, and thinking about what he'd planned on doing regarding his love live or lack of thereof.

'I take you're feeling better,' Hiroki heard Kyosuke say.

'Yeah, I am,' Hiroki replied, 'I'll go and get ready for the warm up,' he added then, taking another quick look at Akito who was still busy answering a journalist's questions, he walked into the small changing room the boxes came equipped with.

He was just zipping his suit up when Akito finally made it into the changing room.

'Hey,' the younger man said, 'where were you last night?'

'That's none of your business,' Hiroki replied.

'Fine,' Akito said, 'I just hope you weren't out clubbing or something…'

'Why don't you just look pretty for the press and leave me alone?' Hiroki sneered and before Akito had the time to counter that remark, the twenty year old grabbed his helmet and his gloves leaving an utterly perplexed Akito behind for he really wasn't expecting his team mate to be quite this aggressive after he'd been through the 'Bunta treatment' making him suspect that something had happened to him.

Hurrying up to get changed, Akito stepped out of the room to see that Hiroki was already sitting inside his car with Kizuna helping him with the seatbelt.

'Hey,' Akito started, crouching next to Hiroki's car, 'has anything happened to you? Because if it has we need to know...'

'Oh, thanks so much,' Hiroki said sarcastically, 'but if I needed someone to talk to, you'd probably be the last person I'd look for.'

'Piss off,' Akito said then, getting back up, he added, 'you better not screw up this time, or else…'

Hiroki looked at him and, filling his voice with as much contempt as possible, he said:

'Try not to blow your engine up.'

Akito was trying to come up with an appropriate way to retort to that when he saw that his father, Keisuke and Kyosuke were walking back from the pit lane's wall and into the boxes.

'Hey, what are you doing?' Takumi said, speaking to his son.

'Yeah, get in the car,' Keisuke added, 'warm up starts in less than ten minutes.'

'Sorry,' Akito said and, as he put his fireproof balaclava on, he threw a dirty look at his team mate.

'Hey, just ignore him,' Kizuna whispered and as Kyosuke looked at them both, she made a gesture indicating that she'd tell what she's seen later and, as soon as both cars were out on the track, Kyosuke tapped her on the shoulder and pointed towards the outside of the team's box.

'What happened?' Kyosuke asked her the minute they were free to talk and just after she'd finished retelling everything, he started looking very worried.

'Does this have anything to do with what Misa thinks about Hiroki and Ryoko?' Kizuna asked and Kyosuke was surprised to find out that even his girlfriend, or rather ex-girlfriend, knew about this.

'Yeah,' Kyosuke said, 'Akito's understandably upset and I think that Hiroki's getting increasingly jealous of Akito.'

'That's just great,' Kizuna commented, 'at this rate the team will end up dissolving even before the season is over.'

'And you'd be happy about it, wouldn't you?' Kyosuke asked frowning at her, 'this way you'd get to go home even sooner.'

'Kyosuke,' Kizuna started, sounding even more upset than he did, 'you make it sound as though as if I can't wait to get away from you.'

'Look,' Kyosuke said, 'this is hardly the place to discuss this but, to be honest, I don't know what to think anymore.'

Kizuna looked at him briefly before shaking her head in defeat.

'When did everything become this complicated?' she asked.

'I don't know,' Kyosuke replied, 'look, you know me, give me a car and I'm the best but when it comes to relationships, I'm just as clueless as a baby.'

'Kyosuke,' Kizuna muttered putting her hand on his cheek and looking as though as she wanted to cry.

'I miss you,' Kyosuke finally admitted, 'and I don't want to lose you…'

'But you can't go to the States with me, can you?' Kizuna finished for him and seeing that he didn't say anything to that, she added, 'let's get back inside, we've got to prepare the cars for the race.'

'Yeah,' Kyosuke said and taking him completely by surprise, Kizuna kissed him on his mouth before re-entering the team's box, leaving Kyosuke feeling grateful that there was no one around for he looked stupidly flabbergasted.

A few hours later, Akito sat inside his car, preparing himself mentally for the instant the light would turn green so he could floor the pedal hoping he would put as much distance as possible between him and the rest of the drivers who, unfortunately for him, wanted to do the exact opposite.

The race started and he saw through the tiny rear view mirrors as Hiroki's car managed to get in third position after overtaking the car in front of him. Meanwhile, Akito had a full time job blocking the British guy who'd replaced him in the PIAA-Tanaka team after he'd had his accident the previous year.

Everything seemed to go fine for Akito until after the first and last pit stop when due to some miscalculation, he ended up re-entering the track in third position, just behind Hiroki who was currently fighting with one of the red cars from the Supernova team.

'Shit,' Akito muttered.

'It's fine,' he heard Kyosuke say through the radio.

'The fuck it is,' Akito whispered so low that not even Kyosuke picked it up and it really wasn't fine for, of all the other twenty five racers there, Hiroki was the one he really didn't want to have a dogfight with. Not that he was in the position to have one anyway: Hiroki was over ten seconds ahead of him and therefore anywhere near him.

Forgetting everything he'd learned up to then from his father, grandfather and the rest of the people he'd had instructing him, Akito decided to floor the throttle desperately, hoping against hope he'd be able to catch up with Hiroki and overtake him.

Seven laps later, the nineteen year old finally saw the back of Hiroki's car and two laps after that he glued his car's front wing to the rear one of Hiroki's using the old fashioned trick of the aerodynamics advantage the car behind had.

Then, at one of the slowest corners of the track and feeling absolutely terrified about he was going to do, praying so that Hiroki wouldn't hit him when Akito would overtake him, the nineteen year old pressed the brake pedal for just the shortest of instants and predicting that Hiroki was going to brake for a tad longer, he moved left towards the outside of the right hand corner, accelerating as he saw Hiroki's car slowing down.

Half way through the turn and hearing his own heartbeat ringing in his ears, Akito saw as he went past Hiroki's car before pulling back to the inside of the exit of the corner putting his car just ahead of Hiroki's.

'Phew,' Akito said as he huffed just before pressing the accelerator as far as it would go.

'Well done mate,' he heard Kyosuke say making Akito smile.

As soon as the young man saw himself within a reasonable distance from his team mate, Akito was about to start planning out his next attack when he felt some weird vibration coming from the engine.

'No, no, nooo!' he shouted as he saw that his car started dramatically slowing down then, looking back at the rear view mirrors, he saw the tell-tale signs of a blown up engine and a few instants later, as he pulled his car out of the track, parking it onto the grass, Akito had the humiliation of seeing Hiroki driving past him.

Ignoring the various voices which kept talking to him through the radio and feeling his stomach contract painfully, Akito hit the small steering wheel as he felt a couple of tears burn in his eyes and while he tried to unfasten his seatbelt, he saw that his hands were trembling with fury.

'Can you get out?' he heard one of the circuit marshals say in English with a very strong Italian accent.

'Yeah,' Akito replied also in English as removed the steering wheel so he could finally get up inside the cockpit to step out of it, refusing to take his helmet off so that the marshals wouldn't see that he was on the verge of crying.

A few minutes later Akito walked into his team's box.

'It wasn't your fault,' Takumi said putting an arm around his son's shoulders, understanding very well how the young man must be feeling for, an eternity ago, he'd felt more or less that way when he blew the AE86's engine in that stupid race against Sudo Kyouichi.

'It didn't help that you pushed it so much,' Keisuke added, 'but I guess it couldn't be helped…'

'Yeah,' Kyosuke continued, 'I should have checked the engine much more carefully.'

'Guys,' Akito said finally removing his helmet and his balaclava, 'it was my fault. I…I'm sorry.'

With that and unable to cope with any of it for any longer, he just ran through the box and into the paddock area where he hoped that he would make it into the team's motorhome without finding any journalists on the way.

'Hey Fujiwara, what happened?' one of them, or at least Akito thought so, asked just as he had his hand on the door's handle.

'It's kind of obvious, don't you think?' Akito replied not even bothering to turn round.

'Do you know that your team mate's now in first position?' the guy said and that made Akito turn round to face him, finding himself in front of a guy in his mid-thirties whose voice seemed oddly familiar.

'Really?' Akito asked.

'Yeah,' the guy replied, 'if you're not careful he'll end up stealing your condition as number one driver in your team…'

'Look,' Akito said, 'I don't know who you are but you're clearly not a journalist so, if you don't leave now, I'll get security to throw you out of the paddock, understood?'

'Oh, are you threatening me?'

'Yes,' Akito replied with such a cheek that the guy actually seemed taken aback.

'Fine,' the guy said, 'this won't end here, mark my words: the Takawara Racing Team has its days counted!'

Feeling that his anger had increased by a tenfold, Akito just slammed the door closed not caring anymore about that particular race and dying to get home so he could see Ryoko who, by the way, missed more than anything in the world, hating Hiroki even more than he already did for being the direct cause of Ryoko not being there in the first place.

Sure, she could have come in any case for he trusted her enough to know that she would never cheat on him but the problem here wasn't his trust in her but, rather, his complete lack of trust in Hiroki. Since he was alone, Akito decided to allow himself to cry, damning whatever had inspired him to bring Hiroki into his world for the umpteenth time that year.

Two days after that horrible race in Spain, Akito was with the Golden Arrows, the mortification of seeing Hiroki taking the first spot onto the podium while the guy smiled at him in a very nasty way, still very fresh in the memory of the nineteen years old.

'Hey man, we're here to have some fun,' Izawa said seeing the sulky look on Akito's face.

'Give him some room,' Seisuke told Izawa.

'It's okay,' Akito said to Seisuke, 'he's right, let's get in the cars and go for a spin.'

'Now, that's an idea,' Kyosuke agreed.

A few minutes later all sixteen of the Golden Arrows were driving down Mt Akagi in formation with Akito finding it quite relaxing to drive for the first time in ages without having to think of how to catch up with the opponent, without having to fight in order to prevent anyone from overtaking, just enjoying the ride with his friends, like in the old days when he, Kyosuke and Seisuke drove around the circuit at the Centre in the Toyota Vera just for the fun of it.

'Guys,' Seisuke said when, as usual, everyone else had started going home and it was only the Takahashi brothers, Kizuna and Akito left, 'I've got something to tell you.'

'What's up?' Kyosuke asked his brother, 'did you find out anything about that psycho who threatened Akito in Italy?'

'No, I'm sorry,' Seisuke said, 'I just want you to know that next week I'll be moving in with Misa.'

'You'll what?' both Akito and Kyosuke asked at the same time making Kizuna let out an involuntary chuckle.

'I've been spending a lot of time with her at her place and we both think that it's the most obvious thing to do for us,' Seisuke said.

'So you're moving out?' Kyosuke asked and seeing his younger brother nod, he added, 'do Mum and Dad know?'

'Not yet,' Seisuke replied, 'I wanted you to know first.'

'I see,' Kyosuke said.

'But I'm not leaving the team, don't worry about that,' Seisuke hurried to say.

'Are you sure that's what you want?' Akito asked.

'Of course,' the youngest of the Takahashi brother replied, 'I'm twenty three years old and Misa's twenty one so we're both of legal age. We could even get married if we wanted but Misa's not very keen on the idea for she doesn't have a very high opinion when it comes to marriage but I don't really care. I just want to live with her.'

'I get it,' Kyosuke said and even though he really didn't want his younger brother to move out, he perfectly understood his feelings for they mirrored his own. For some reason, he found himself looking at Kizuna who did her best to avoid his gaze.

'Thanks Aniki, I was worried you'd…you know…'

'Hey,' the older brother said, 'it's fine, I'm happy you've finally found a girl who makes you want to share your life with her.'

'I wonder how your parents' are going to take this,' Akito commented.

'They'll be fine too,' Kyosuke assured both his younger brother and Akito, 'Mum's actually very open minded and I'm sure Dad will agree with her, he always does.'

'And if they don't,' Seisuke said, 'I'll just blame you,' he added looking at Akito.

'Why?' Akito asked frowning at him.

'It was you who gave me the idea,' Seisuke explained, 'when you got the rings for yourself and Ryoko I thought I wanted to do something like that with Misa too, especially after the accident then, when I mentioned it the idea to her, she suggested that I moved in with her instead.'

'Great, so it's all my fault,' Akito said.

'As usual,' Seisuke said jokingly and the two of them started laughing completely missing the look Kyosuke and Kizuna were exchanging.

'Oh well,' Akito said, 'I better go, I've got to pick Ryoko up from the ice rink.'

'Alright, see you later then,' the Takahashi brothers said.

Meanwhile, Ryoko was already tidying up after the kids had all left to go home when she heard the main door of the small ice rink where she worked as a part time instructor and thinking it was probably Akito, she shouted:

'I'm almost ready!'

'Ready for what?' she heard a voice which was definitely not Akito's say.

'H-hiroki,' she said seeing her boyfriend's team mate there, 'what are you…'

'Ryoko,' Hiroki started, as he walked a lot closer to where she was, 'I need to tell you something.'

Ryoko left the pair of skates she had in her hands back on the floor, crossing her arms on her chest defensively for she was beginning to feel rather uneasy about the whole thing.

'Look, Hiroki, Aki…'

'I'm in love with you Ryoko,' Hiroki said and, without giving her the time to react to that, he closed the gap between them, took her by her shoulders and bent down placing his lips onto hers.

_To be continued…_


	9. Chapter Eight

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage **

_Chapter Eight _

After what felt like an eternity and probably noticing that she wasn't responding to the kiss, Hiroki finally separated himself from Ryoko to find that the girl's facial expression was one of absolute horror mixed with the most profound astonishment.

'Ryoko…' Hiroki started watching her as she, in some sort of bizarre slow motion, brought both of her hands up to her mouth covering it with them looking every bit as though as if she was completely unable to even begin to process what had just happened, 'Ryoko…' he repeated starting to realise the magnitude of his mistake.

'W-wh-wha…' Ryoko stuttered with a very low voice as she wiped her mouth with the back of one of her hands then, using an unnaturally high pitch, she finally shouted, 'WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?'

'I…'

'Get out,' she whispered furiously.

'Ryoko,' Hiroki said, 'wait…I…'

'GET OUT!' she yelled.

'Ryoko,' Hiroki tried again, 'if you give me the chance I can make you happier than Akito…'

He never finished the sentence for Ryoko, using every ounce of her strength, slapped him so hard that he actually staggered managing somehow to regain his balance as he held his sore left cheek with his left hand.

'Don't even dare saying his name!' the girl exclaimed beginning to tremble with pent up rage, 'how can you do this to him? After everything he's done for you!'

'Ryoko…'

'I want you to leave this instant,' she said with such an icy tone that it made Hiroki flinch more than when she'd slapped him just a few instants before then, lowering his gaze to the ground, Hiroki muttered:

'I'm sorry.'

Ryoko didn't even look at him as he turned round so he could leave and only once she was sure he had got out of the building, she felt her knees giving up under her weight making her collapse onto the floor while she cried her eyes out.

'Oh gosh,' she whimpered, covering her mouth with her hands once again as she started realising the enormity of what had just happened: her boyfriend's team mate was in love with her and he had just kissed her.

If Akito, or her own father for that matter, found out about of this, Hiroki would probably be as good as dead, the Takawara Racing Team would lose one of its two drivers and Akito's dream of driving for an F1 team would become, once again, a very distant prospect. There was no other solution but to keep all of this from them, no matter what.

'Baby?' she heard the object of her thoughts say, 'are you okay?' Akito added sounding a lot more urgent and as he knelt next to her.

'Yeah,' Ryoko replied as she hurried to wipe the tears off her face realising that she had been so absorbed by her thoughts that she had probably lost the notion of time.

'What's wrong?' Akito asked.

'Ah…it's nothing…' Ryoko replied, 'I…I've hurt myself…I fell…skating...'

'Where does it hurt?' Akito asked sounding, if possible, even more worried.

'The knee,' Ryoko lied.

'Oh crap,' Akito said, 'let me help you,' he added taking her in his arms.

'What are you doing?' Ryoko asked as she placed her arms around his neck for extra support.

'I'm taking you to the hospital,' Akito replied.

'It's not necessary,' Ryoko assured him, 'I just need to lie down for a bit,' she added and that last bit was actually true.

'Alright,' Akito said, 'I'll take you to your place then.'

'Okay,' Ryoko agreed.

Akito took her to the small room the staff used for their breaks, leaving her on one of the armchairs there, he then grabbed his girlfriend's purse and jacket giving them to her before taking her again in his arms.

'I'm going to need to lock up,' Ryoko said once Akito had her strapped onto the V-86's passenger bucket seat.

'Give me the keys and I'll do it for you,' he said sounding even kinder than he usually did with her and as Akito walked back to the building main door with her set of keys, Ryoko felt horribly guilty for lying to him, 'there, it's done,' he added as he climbed into his seat, handing the keys back to her.

'Thanks,' she muttered then, as he bent down to give her a kiss, she moved away due to some sort of unconscious instinct forcing him to kiss her on her cheek.

Akito looked very confused for a few instants before he seemed to decide not to press the issue right then.

'Let's go home,' he said instead.

Akito parked his V-86 next to Seisuke's RZ-1 after driving in complete silence for over fifteen minutes with Ryoko trying very hard not to burst into tears and Akito trying to shake off the uneasy feeling which told him that something was very wrong in the whole picture.

'I'm fine,' Ryoko said as he went to help her out of the car.

'We'll let your aunt and uncle decide that,' Akito said taking her in his arms yet again and walking towards the Takahashi residence's front door.

'What's happened?' Kyoko asked as soon as she opened the door for there was no way for Akito to do that at the same time as carrying Ryoko, her handbag and jacket.

'I've hurt myself at the ice rink,' Ryoko replied, hating herself for having to keep lying to everyone.

'I'll take her up to her room,' Akito said and soon the three of them were followed by the whole family who, being almost eleven pm, had been gathered up to then in the living room.

'Where does it hurt?' Akiko asked to her niece as she entered the girl's room with one of the bags both Takahashi doctors kept in the house.

'My knee,' Ryoko replied.

'Really?' Ryosuke asked sounding just a tad on the incredulous side then, exchanging a brief but meaningful look with his wife, he added, 'let's go back downstairs.'

'But Aniki...' Keisuke started.

'Keisuke, it's probably nothing,' Ryosuke said, 'Akiko will take a look at her and will let us know if something is wrong.'

'Alright,' the younger of the original set of Takahashi brothers said.

'Kyoko,' Akiko added, 'I'm going to need your help, why don't you stay?'

'Er…' Kyoko hesitated, 'okay, sure.'

'Let's all go downstairs,' Ryosuke repeated looking at Akito.

Then the doctor ushered everyone back to the stairs and since the young man was hardly going to contradict a direct order coming from someone as intimidating as his best friends' father, no matter how much he wanted to stay with his girlfriend, he followed very reluctantly both sets of Takahashi brothers down the stairs.

'There's nothing wrong with your knee, is there?' Akiko asked to her niece once the three women of the house were left alone in the girl's room.

'No,' Ryoko finally admitted as she felt a knot constricting her throat in an extremely painful way.

'What happened then?' Kyoko asked her daughter as she sat on the girl's bed.

'Oh Mum!' Ryoko exclaimed and clearly unable to cope with it for any longer, she crashed onto her mother's shoulder as she started crying as silently as she could.

'Baby…' Kyoko started, her voice sounding even more strained than that of her daughter, 'what's happened?' she repeated urgently.

'Ryoko,' Akiko said sitting on the other side of the bed watching as Ryoko kept sobbing on her mother's shoulder, 'if you don't tell us what's happened we won't be able to help you.'

That made the nineteen year old girl look up and, with tears drenching her cheeks, she started explaining to the two older women what had just happened.

'Uh-oh,' Akiko said as soon as the girl had finished.

'Akito's going to kill him,' Kyoko said, 'and your father's going to kill him too.'

'No!' Ryoko exclaimed, 'we can't tell them: Mum, promise to me that you won't tell Dad!'

'She won't,' Akiko replied instead of her sister in law, 'will you?' she added looking at Kyoko who shook her head promptly.

'This could destroy the team,' Ryoko said.

'How could he even think that kissing you would make you leave Akito?' Kyoko asked sounding positively dismayed by the very thought.

Ryoko looked at her mother and again following her instinct, she brought her fingers to her lips finally realising what this all meant to her.

'Oh no, Mum…' the girl whimpered before she started crying all over again, 'I didn't want anyone else but Akito to kiss me, ever,' she added feeling rather stupid that something like that was making her even more upset than the rest of it, 'no one but him had ever kissed me…'

'Ryoko,' she heard Akiko say, 'did you kiss him back?'

'Of course not!' Ryoko exclaimed unable to believe that her aunt could even think of something like that.

'In that case, this wasn't a kiss,' the girl's aunt sentenced firmly.

'But…'

'Sweetie,' Akiko insisted, 'if you didn't kiss him back, then it wasn't a proper kiss.'

'She's right baby,' Kyoko said.

'But…'

'What I think it's important here,' Akiko said interrupting her niece yet again, 'is that neither Akito nor Keisuke find out about this.'

'Ever,' Kyoko added for she truly feared her husband's reaction even more than that of Akito.

'I don't want to have to lie to them either,' Ryoko said.

'You won't have to,' Akiko countered, 'it's enough that you don't mention it to them.'

'Just pretend it was a nightmare,' Kyoko added and that finally made Ryoko smile.

'Mum,' the girl said, 'I'm not a baby anymore.'

'I know honey, believe me, I know,' the former street racer said looking at her daughter with a very motherly smile on her face.

'Okay,' Akiko said getting up from the bed to go and get something from her bag.

'What are you doing?' Ryoko asked her as the doctor started bandaging her knee.

'You're supposed to have hurt yourself, haven't you?'

'Yeah, that's right,' Ryoko replied.

'We'll tell the boys you're sleeping so you can get some rest,' Kyoko added as she went to get up from the bed too.

'Mum,' Ryoko said, 'don't leave me alone just yet.'

Kyoko looked at her daughter and then at her sister in law who nodded at her then, she returned her gaze to Ryoko before saying:

'Sure, I'll stay here until you fall asleep, like when you were little.'

'Thanks,' Ryoko said taking her mother's hand in hers.

As Akiko left the girl's room she looked once more at the girl as she laid on her bed with her mother sitting next to her and the doctor couldn't help but to think that, whereas it was true that Ryoko was no longer a little girl, she still was far from being one hundred independent from her mother, especially in moments like this one.

'How's Ryoko?' Keisuke asked seeing his sister in law walking back into the living room.

'She's fine,' Akiko replied while taking a seat next to her husband, 'it was quite a fright for her but she just needs some rest.'

'Can I go and see her?' Akito asked sounding very worried.

'Sweetie, I think it's better if she's with her mother right now,' Akiko replied.

'Of course,' Akito said trying his best to be reasonable, 'in this case and since it's rather late, I think I'll just go back home,' he added getting up from one of the living room's sofas.

'Drive safely,' Akiko advised and that provoked a chuckle from the two sets of Takahashi brothers, 'I mean it!' she insisted but that only made the four men laugh even louder while Akito was making a superhuman effort not to start sniggering too.

'I'll see you two tomorrow,' Akito said looking at Kyosuke and Keisuke, 'good night,' he added talking to the rest then, feeling rather disappointed that, other than the short drive from the ice rink he hadn't been able to spend a single minute alone with his girlfriend, Akito climbed back into his V-86 and started driving to Shibukawa.

The next day he learned from Kyosuke that Ryoko was much better and that during breakfast Seisuke had announced to the whole family about his intentions of moving out of the house and into Misa's apartment.

'How did they take it?' Akito asked him.

'Surprisingly well,' Kyosuke replied, 'as usual Mum saw the most practical side of it.'

'What do you mean?' Akito asked.

'Well, since Seisuke's going to start his residency at the Motegi circuit's clinic and since Misa's going to work at her father's law firm after she graduates it does make sense if they live in the Tochigi prefecture.'

'And what about you?' Akito asked.

'I'll be fine,' Kyosuke replied both sounding and looking sincere, 'granted, I'm going to miss him and it's going to be kind of weird not having him around in the house but again, Seisuke has never depended on me the way Uncle Keisuke still relies on our father…'

'That's true,' Akito agreed.

'Anyway,' Kyosuke said shaking his head as if trying to get rid of some distracting thought, 'I've received an email from Taro Nakazato saying that the Kanto Kaisers have also defeated the Myogi Devils.'

'Really?' Akito asked sounding very surprised.

'Yeah, it was a very tough race, or so Nakazato says,' Kyosuke explained.

'When are we going to race them?' Akito asked.

'Soon,' Kyosuke replied, 'very soon in fact. I think we could do with a good battle at Mt Akagi.'

'We'll race them in our home course?' Akito asked absolutely astonished.

'Yep,' Kyosuke replied, 'for them I'm willing to make an exception, besides, Seisuke's dying to race against that Daichiro guy.'

'I don't blame him after what he did to Misa,' Akito commented..

'Me neither,' Kyosuke agreed, 'I take I can count on you for the downhill battle.'

'Do you even need to ask?' Akito said with a smirk on his face.

'Of course not,' Kyosuke replied smiling back at his best friend, 'now, you better go and get ready for the practice session.'

'Yeah,' Akito said and he was about to start walking towards the changing room when he saw something that managed to wipe the smile off his face, 'Oh great,' he said, 'Mr Sunshine's here.'

'What's wrong with him?' Kyosuke asked as they saw Hiroki looking extremely rough as he walked towards the changing room he and Akito normally used.

'I have no idea,' Akito replied, 'he's probably gone clubbing or something.'

'I hope he doesn't make a habit out of it,' Kizuna commented startling both Kyosuke and Akito in the process.

'I agree,' Akito said darkly.

'We should go,' Kizuna said to Kyosuke pointing at the garage where the three of them saw Takumi, Fumihiro and Kenta as they listened to something Keisuke was saying.

Akito walked to the changing room as he prepared himself mentally to share his vital space with his least favourite person in the world but, as he stepped into the room, he saw that Hiroki was sitting completely immobile on the bench placed in front of the lockers where they kept their stuff.

'Another rough night, huh?' Akito asked him rather sardonically.

Hiroki looked startled at first then nodding, he said:

'Something like that.'

That very much surprised Akito for, unless he was horribly mistaken, the twenty year old seemed to be almost afraid of being in the same room as him.

'Look,' Akito said not really understanding how he still had the patience to be considered with Hiroki, 'I know you said it's none of my business but you have to stop doing goodness knows what and showing up to our practices looking like this.'

Hiroki stared back at him with a deep frown creasing his eyebrows.

'What in the fuck are you talking about?' he asked making Akito feel suddenly confused.

'I said that…'

'I know what you said,' Hiroki interrupted him as he got up seeming to be getting ready for a fight, 'stop pretending you don't know what happened and punch me already!'

'What?' Akito asked his confusion turning quickly into utter astonishment, 'what am I supposed to know?' he added.

Then it was Hiroki's turn to look completely stunned.

'She didn't tell you?' he asked to Akito.

'She? Who…' Akito started then he stopped talking as his brain very slowly started processing all the, up to then, loose bits of information finally coming up with the most obvious conclusion, 'oh no, you can't have…'

'Shit,' Hiroki muttered realising that he had just made the second biggest mistake of his life.

Watching his team mate as he got increasingly enraged made Hiroki feel even more terrified than when he'd been onboard the AE86 with Akito's grandfather.

_To be continued…_


	10. Chapter Nine

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage **

_Chapter Nine _

Hearing Hiroki utter those simple four letters seemed to be the trigger for Akito to release all the anger and frustration the had accumulated ever since that disastrous race in Italy and, before he realised what he was doing for he was guided by some primal instinct which had completely silenced any voice of reason which may have stopped him, he rushed towards Hiroki grabbing him by his neck with his two hands and pushing him against the room's lockers.

'WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?' Akito screamed as he increased the pressure on Hiroki's neck.

'Ak…Akito…' Hiroki struggled to say trembling with fear for he had never seen Akito get this angry before. Not even that time when, the year before, he'd crashed against the younger man on purpose.

'TELL ME OR I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU!' Akito carried on shouting with such a crazed tone of voice that Hiroki realised that his team mate had gone so out of control that he could actually deliver that threat.

'I…kissed…her,' Hiroki whispered hoarsely and, just as he started seeing little black spots due to the lack of proper oxygenation, he felt as Akito finally let go of him.

Unfortunately for Hiroki, Akito only released his throat in order to punch him on his jaw with such violence that the twenty year old literally flew onto the cold, tiled floor of the changing room.

Then, even before Hiroki had the time to get up, Akito threw himself onto him punching him again and again and again.

'YOU FUCKING SON OF A BITCH!' Akito yelled as he kept hitting Hiroki not really caring where.

At long last, realising that unless he did something to defend himself Akito would end up killing him for real, Hiroki tried to push Akito off his chest. However and instead of achieving the result he was expecting, Akito only got even angrier and they ended up rolling onto each others' backs with Hiroki trying to get away as Akito just pulled him back into the fight.

'Shit!' Hiroki thought he heard someone exclaim but, not hearing anything else, he convinced himself that he had just imagined it when, suddenly, he felt that someone was finally lifting Akito off his chest and looking up he saw that at least half of the team was there and, judging by their expressions of complete horror, Hiroki realised that he probably looked pretty bad.

'LET GO OF ME!' Akito roared as he struggled to free himself from Keisuke, Takumi and Kyosuke's grasp.

'Let's get him out of here!' Fumihiro shouted at someone in the room and soon Hiroki felt himself being lifted off the floor as he was dragged out of the room by both Fumihiro and Kenta with the help of one of the junior mechanics.

'AKITO, STOP IT!' Kyosuke screamed as the nineteen year old still fought with the three men to release himself.

'I'M NOT DONE WITH HIM YET!' Akito bellowed clearly ignoring him.

'Calm down!' Takumi exclaimed at his son but, seeing that his son was in a state of complete hysteria, he raised his hand and, for the first time in his life, Takumi slapped his son across his face.

That seemed to work wonders for the three older men felt as Akito's body went limp then the young man allowed himself to hang off the other three men.

'Akito…' Keisuke started but interrupted himself seeing the enormous amount of hurt in the young man's eyes.

'He kissed her,' Akito said with such a croaky voice that it didn't even sound like his at all.

'What did you say?' Takumi asked him trying to use what he believed it was a soothing tone of voice.

'That fucking bastard kissed Ryoko!' Akito exclaimed and that made all three men release him so brusquely that he collapsed onto his knees.

'What?' they heard Keisuke shouting and for a brief second Takumi and Kyosuke exchanged a panicked look fearing what would happen if they had to deal with Keisuke's hysteria too.

'He swore that he wasn't interested in her,' Akito whispered talking more to himself than to anyone else, 'that fucking cheating bastard!' he then exclaimed beginning to feel all the anger coming back to him.

'You two,' Keisuke said talking to his nephew and to Takumi, 'stay here with him, I'll go and talk to Hiroki.'

'Er…' Takumi started, 'isn't it better if I go?'

'No,' Keisuke replied, 'Ryoko's my daughter.'

'Uncle Keisuke,' Kyosuke said, 'that's precisely the reason why you shouldn't go.'

'What do you think I'm going to do?' Keisuke asked and seeing the looks both men were giving to him made him say, 'I'm not going to beat the crap out of him: Akito here has already done a fabulous job at it.'

'Alright then, what are you going to do?' Takumi asked his former best enemy.

'It's obvious, isn't it?' Keisuke asked back, 'I'm going to fire him,' he added answering to his own question and, with that, he left the room while Kyosuke tried to get Akito up from the floor.

'Geez Akito, you looked pretty freaky just now,' he said, 'remind me never to piss you off quite so badly.'

'That's going to hurt for a couple of days,' Takumi commented, sitting by his son's side pointing at his already swollen right hand and sounding as though as he was talking through his own experience.

Akito looked first at his father then at his best friend and finally at Kizuna who was standing there apparently too scared to say or do anything at all.

'I'm sorry,' he said to her, 'I…'

He stopped talking seeing Kizuna shaking her head in a very understanding manner.

'It's okay,' she said, 'I'll go and get some ice for your hand.'

Meanwhile Kenta and Fumihiro had taken Hiroki to the centre's small infirmary with the latter doing his best to medicate the bruises the young man had all over his face when Keisuke stepped into the room.

'I know what you've done to my daughter,' Keisuke said with such a surreally calm tone of voice that it gave the goose bumps to both Fumihiro and Kenta.

'I'b dorry,' Hiroki said as he pressed some gauze onto his bloodied nose which, by the looks of it, was probably broken.

'No you're not,' Keisuke countered, still sounding weirdly cool and collected, 'but you will be.'

'Vat do you bean?' Hiroki asked.

'Fumihiro will take you to one of my family's hospitals so they can fix you up,' Keisuke replied, 'after that I don't want to see you ever again anywhere near this centre nor anywhere near my daughter, is that clear?'

'Ab I out ob the teab?' Hiroki asked actually sounding surprised.

'I see you catch on quickly,' Keisuke replied sarcastically then, finally dropping his poise, he added, 'count yourself lucky it was Akito who's done this to you. If it had been me…'

He didn't even need to finish the sentence to get his message across in an extremely clear fashion.

'Kenta,' Keisuke said talking to his lifelong friend and former protégé, 'come with me, we've got less than ten days to find us a new driver.'

An hour later and seeing as the practice session was definitely cancelled, Akito was on Kyosuke's RZ-1 for the first time in a really long while as the two of them drove back to the Takahashi residence.

'Akito, just for the record, I don't think this is a great idea,' Kyosuke commented as he slowed down to drive up his home's long lane.

'I want to speak to her,' Akito insisted, 'I would have driven myself but…'

'Yeah,' Kyosuke said, 'you've pretty much smashed your poor hand up.'

'Don't even make me think of it,' Akito complained as he tried to move his fingers inside the provisional bandage his father had covered it with, 'ouch!'

'Don't move it, idiot,' Kyosuke ordered him.

'I think I've got something broken,' Akito complained.

'Nah,' Kyosuke said, 'the only thing that's broken is Hiroki's nose.'

'Really?' Akito asked incredulously.

'Duh,' Kyosuke replied almost sarcastically, 'you've beaten the crap out of him Akito!'

'He deserved it,' Akito countered angrily, 'I would have done a lot worse if you hadn't stopped me.'

'We know,' Kyosuke assured him getting very serious, 'you were like a wild beast back there: I've never been any more scared of you in my whole life.'

'I'm sorry,' Akito said.

Kyosuke didn't say anything to that as he drove his car into the family's garage and pulling the handbrake up, he stopped the engine, unfastened his seatbelt and climbed out of the car while Akito did the same.

'What are you two doing in here?' Seisuke asked entering the garage carrying a huge, sealed box in his arms for he'd been busy packing up to move out for quite a few days already then, noticing Akito's bandaged hand made him leave the box onto the floor and rush towards his friend, 'what have you done to it?' he asked sounding very worried.

'He's beaten Hiroki up,' Kyosuke replied.

'What has he done this time?' Seisuke asked frowning at his older brother.

'He's kissed Ryoko,' Kyosuke replied.

'Shit,' Seisuke said, 'I've always thought that Hiroki had some sort of psychotic death wish but this confirms my theory,' he added while looking from Akito to his older brother and back to Akito.

'Can you two stop saying his name?' he exclaimed, 'just hearing it makes me mad all over again.'

'Alright,' Kyosuke said to him then, looking at his younger brother, he whispered, 'believe me, you don't want to see him really angry.'

Seisuke just shook his head no as Akito just bypassed the two of them on his way to the already open door which interconnected the garage with the main house.

'Where are you going?' the future doctor asked.

'To speak to Ryoko,' Akito replied and with this he walked up the short flight of stairs.

'Oh shit,' Seisuke said, 'I smell trouble.'

'Me and you both, little brother,' Kyosuke agreed.

By the time both men made it into their house's living room they found that their best friend had already walked into it.

'What's happened to you?' they heard their Aunt Kyoko ask him seeing Akito's bandaged right hand.

The nineteen year old just ignored his future mother in law as he walked determinedly towards where his girlfriend was sitting then, crouching next to her, he took her right hand with his left one and using a very neutral tone of voice, he said:

'Ryoko, what happened last night?'

Kyoko gasped while her daughter seemed as though as she couldn't bring herself to say anything.

'Ryoko…' he insisted.

'What have you done to your hand?' the girl was finally able to ask.

'Please, answer my question first,' Akito said.

'Akito…'

'You already know what happened, don't you?' Kyoko asked the young man and, seeing him nod to that, made Ryoko's eyes widen in shock.

'Baby, I…'

'Ryoko,' Akito said, 'I don't blame you for what happened. I knew it would…'

'YOU KNEW?' Ryoko exclaimed getting up so suddenly that he fell backwards onto the floor putting both of his hands behind him to cushion the fall, hurting his right hand all over again in the process.

'Ouch,' he complained.

'YOU KNEW AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?' Ryoko shrieked at him.

'Boys, let's leave them alone,' Kyoko muttered as she got up from the sofa, pushing both Kyosuke and Seisuke out of the room.

Yet again Akito didn't pay any attention to her as he got back up, nursing his hand and doing his best to ignore the pain as he focused on his increasingly angry girlfriend.

'Ryoko, I…'

'Now I get it!' the girl exclaimed, 'I now get why you didn't want me around for the races.'

'Yes, but…'

'You asked me to trust you!' Ryoko shouted, 'is this how you trust me?'

'Ryoko,' Akito finally said, 'I trust you: I always have!'

'Then, if you knew that Hiroki's in love with me, why didn't you tell me?' she asked him sounding more upset than ever.

'I don't know!' he exclaimed back, 'I don't know why I didn't tell you…I…'

'Don't you think I would have known how to deal with him?'

'Would you?' Akito asked now sounding pretty surprised.

'Of course I would!' Ryoko replied, 'I became a freaking expert at rejecting guys while I waited for you to ask me out!'

She was right and Akito had never felt any more stupid in his whole life.

'If you had told me,' the girl continued, 'I would have had some sort of warning and I would have prepared the speech I always used to push them away. Instead, Hiroki caught me totally by surprise when…'

'…when he kissed you,' Akito finished for her using a very gloomy tone of voice.

'Yes,' Ryoko confirmed and her frown got a notch deeper, 'but I didn't kiss him back! I swear, Akito: I love you!'

'I know,' Akito said, 'and so do I.'

'Then you should have told me,' Ryoko insisted.

'I know,' Akito repeated, 'it's just that…'

'Akito,' the girl said now taking his uninjured hand in hers, 'please tell me you didn't even think it possible that I could ever like Hiroki.'

Akito looked at her for a while before he shook his head once.

'Of course not,' he said and hearing that made the girl let out a sigh of relief, 'you should have told me about the kiss though,' he added.

'I couldn't tell you!' Ryoko said, 'it would have destroyed the team.'

'Too late for that,' Akito muttered miserably.

'What have you done?' Ryoko asked again.

'I've beaten the crap out of Hiroki and your father has fired him from the team,' Akito replied.

Releasing his hand Ryoko went to the sofa and sat down putting her hands on her face and her elbows onto her knees.

'So it was useless,' he heard her whisper.

'What was?' Akito asked.

'Lying to you,' she replied removing the hands from her face, 'you have no idea of the effort it took me to make everything up.'

'I'm kind of relieved to hear that,' Akito said very honestly, 'I'd hate to think that you would find lying to me easy.'

Ryoko looked at him for a bit before saying:

'I've got an idea: let's not keep anything from each other ever again.'

'That sounds like a very good plan,' Akito said.

Ryoko got back up and they sealed their new deal with a kiss.

'I take it's safe for us to come back in?' they heard Kyoko ask using her kindest tone of voice.

'Yeah,' Akito said hoping that he didn't look anywhere near as flustered as he felt.

Then, as soon as her cousins, mother and boyfriend were all sitting down on the living room's two huge couches, Ryoko said:

'What's going to happen to the team?'

'I have no idea,' Akito replied.

'I guess we'll have to get a new driver,' Kyosuke added.

'Can we do that? I mean changing drivers once the season's started,' Ryoko asked looking at everyone in the room.

'Of course we can,' Kyosuke replied, 'don't you remember that Akito got replaced in his team last year?'

'Yes I do,' Ryoko said stealing a glance at her boyfriend for she knew he was rather sensitive about that particular subject, 'but that was because he had injured himself,' she added.

'Sweetie,' Kyoko said, 'the problem is not going to be replacing Hiroki: the problem's going to be finding someone suitable to do so with and arrange for him to get a federation license with such a short notice.'

'That's right,' Seisuke said, 'are you sure you can get a decent enough driver before the next race?' he asked dubiously.

'To be honest,' Akito replied, 'I really don't care who we replace Hiroki with as long as he stays as far away as possible from us.'

'I agree,' Ryoko said.

'That could prove tricky,' Seisuke said, 'especially with him being in the same street racing team as Misa.'

'Crap!' Akito exclaimed, 'I forgot about that.'

'Lucky you,' Seisuke commented sarcastically.

'Boys,' Kyoko said pointing at her daughter with her head for Ryoko was beginning to look pretty miserable for, she was after all the one who'd caused all of this mess, albeit doing so involuntarily.

'Akito,' the girl said to her boyfriend, 'will I get to go to your races again?'

The young racer looked at her for a short while before nodding once as he prayed for all that was holy that the Takawara Racing Team would indeed have more races to look forward to.

_To be continued…_


	11. Chapter Ten

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Ten_

After Fumihiro had taken him to one of the three hospitals the Takahashi Arakawa Medical Group owned, Hiroki declined the older man's offer to drive him to Utsunomiya asking him to just get him back to the Centre so that he could pick up his Eclipse GT.

'I'm sorry about all of this,' Fumihiro said as the young man climbed into his car.

'No more than I am,' Hiroki replied with his voice still sounding rather guttural due to the broken nose then, giving one quick look around the Takahashi Motorsports Centre, just in case it really was the last time he ever saw it, he climbed into his car, started its engine and he drove off and out of the place.

Almost an hour later, Hiroki parked the Mitsubishi next to his parents' SUV and only then, he realised that his father would probably go ballistic when he found out about what had just happened. His faint hopes that his mother's intervention could save him from the worst reprimand ever evaporated as Hiroki remembered that it was Sunday afternoon and that his mother was probably at the ikebana club.

'Just freaking fantastic,' he said to himself while trying not to frown for his face just hurt too much if he did so.

'What are you doing home?' Hiroki heard his father ask from somewhere behind him, making him turn around so fast that the sudden motion made his nose throb quite painfully, 'oh my…' Tohru Suetsugu gasped seeing his son's badly bruised face, 'what happened?' he then asked rushing towards him.

'We better go inside,' Hiroki suggested knowing that it was better if they kept this conversation out of the neighbours hearing range then, once locked up in the safety of their home, the twenty year old proceeded to explain everything to his father who, predictably enough, got every bit as mad as Hiroki had foreseen.

'I just can't believe it!' Tohru shouted getting back up from the sofa where he and his son had been sitting, 'I knew this would happen! I just knew it.'

'Dad…' Hiroki started, looking up to his father.

'Hiroki, do you realise that you've thrown away the best chance you had to become an F1 racer?' Tohru asked as he stood up with his hands on his hips towering his son in the Suetsugu's small living room.

'Dad I…'

'And all of this for what?' Tohru said, 'for a girl?' he added.

'Yes,' Hiroki replied lowering his gaze to look at the floor for he really couldn't stand the way his father was looking at him.

'Son,' Tohru said, 'what made you think she'd leave Fujiwara-kun for you?'

'I don't know,' Hiroki lied because there was no way he could tell his father about his encounter in Spain with that mysterious guy who, after all, had been who had dared him to give it a go.

'Dad,' he added after a short silence as he glanced back at his father's face, 'you've always told me that if you want something you've got to go for it.'

'Yes,' Tohru said, 'and I still think so but, when I said that, I meant things you could actually get: those to have been together for a really long time and they're in love. You had no business messing up with their relationship.'

'But…'

'Enough of this,' Tohru said, 'I think that right now you've got a much bigger problem.'

'Dad, Keisuke-san can't fire me, can he? I mean, I signed a contract with them, didn't I?'

'Yes, you did,' Tohru said, 'but you clearly didn't read it very well, did you?'

'What do you mean?' Hiroki asked confused.

'The contract says that they can fire you in the case your performance or your behaviour affects in someway the team and I'd say that you've more than breached those terms.'

'Where does it say that?' Hiroki asked.

'In the small print you obviously didn't read,' Tohru replied then, seeing his son's depressed face, he added, 'now go and lie down, you probably need some rest.'

'Dad, what about my punishment?' Hiroki asked.

'I think that's more than enough,' Tohru said pointing at all the cuts and bruises Akito had provoked with his fists.

Nodding his agreement Hiroki got up from the sofa and walked up to his room where, not even bothering to turn the light on nor take his clothes off, he just collapsed onto his bed, finally allowing himself to feel all the pain his body and heart were transmitting to his brain for, aside the tremendous beating Akito had given him, Hiroki had also lost two of the things he cared for the most: racing and Ryoko. For the first time in his whole live, Hiroki Suetsugu cried himself to sleep.

Five days later he still wasn't feeling much better when, on Friday morning, the twenty year old decided to go out for a walk since he really didn't have anything else to do with his time.

'Where are you going?' he heard his mother ask as he saw her getting ready for her shift at the office where she worked.

'I'll go to the employment agency to see if they have any jobs for me,' Hiroki replied.

'Okay,' Nao said, 'have you taken your painkillers?'

'Nah,' Hiroki replied, 'it's not so painful anymore,' he added putting his index finger over his still bandaged nose while wishing that his heartache could heal as fast as his bruises were doing.

'Oh well,' Nao said, 'don't overdo it: a broken nose is not something you can underestimate.'

'Mum,' Hiroki said, 'I'm fine, believe me.'

The woman looked at her son with a worried expression on her aging but still beautiful face before she nodded.

'I've left your lunch in the microwave,' she said, 'you just need to press the start button.'

'Thanks Mum,' he said as he kissed her on her forehead before taking his car keys and his denim jacket so he could finally leave his house.

An hour later and after getting told by the local employment agency that 'they would call him', Hiroki was wandering aimlessly around Utsunomiya with a half idea of going to the huge shopping centre the city was famous for when he heard someone calling out his name.

Slowly, he turned round to see a guy in his mid thirties who looked vaguely familiar walking towards him.

'Hey, it is you!' the guy exclaimed.

'Excuse me,' the twenty years old said, 'do I know you?'

'Oh, I'm hurt,' the guy said in a very theatrical way, 'there was I listening to all your problems for an entire evening to be forgotten, just like that…'

'You're that guy from that bar in Montmelò, aren't you?' Hiroki asked finally remembering.

'Bingo,' the guy said smiling at Hiroki in a very friendly way, a tad too friendly if one was to look at it objectively, 'I think I told you at the bar but, just in case, my name's Hashimoto Ken.'

'You probably did,' Hiroki admitted, 'but I don't remember much of what happened that night.'

The guy let out a chuckle before saying:

'No wonder you don't: you had had quite a few beers that evening.'

'Yeah, I did,' Hiroki agreed, renewing his vow not to go anywhere near that horrible drink again.

'It'd propose you to go for one now,' Ken said, 'but it's not even noon yet so, unless you have something else to do, why don't we go for a coffee instead?'

'Er…'

'We need to celebrate that we've met again!' Ken insisted, 'isn't it an amazing coincidence?' he then asked.

'It is,' Hiroki replied and, shaking off the slightly uneasy sensation this guy was beginning to make him feel, he finally said, 'alright, I've got plenty of time anyway.'

Fifteen minutes later they were sitting at a table with a couple of cappuccinos and two delicious looking pastries when Ken asked the question Hiroki had been expecting for quite a while:

'What happened to your face?'

Hiroki summarized the whole incident as quickly as he could and seeing the sorry look on Ken's face served him as a small consolation prize.

'I'm really sorry about that,' Ken said, 'I…I just didn't think this would happen…'

'Yeah well,' Hiroki said, 'I guess my approach wasn't the smartest ever.'

'So, you've been kicked out of the GP2 team you raced for,' Ken commented.

'Yeah,' Hiroki confirmed miserably while pretending to be fascinated by the whirl the cream formed on top of his cappuccino.

'I take you're looking for a job now, are you not?' Ken asked.

'Of course,' Hiroki replied, 'my family's not as rich as the Takahashi are…'

'Then it's your lucky day,' Ken said and seeing the younger man's perplexed expression made him add, 'I happen to have a friend of mine working for one of the GP2 teams and I believe that they're actually looking for someone…'

'That's impossible, all the race seats are taken,' Hiroki pointed out.

'I'm not talking about race seats here,' Ken said, 'would you be interested in working as a tester?'

'Tester?' Hiroki asked not really liking the way that sounded.

'Yeah,' Ken replied, 'it may not be too appealing but I think that a job as a test driver is always better than finding employment as an office clerk or something like that.'

Hiroki looked at him for a short while before nodding his agreement.

'I can make a call now if you want,' Ken insisted.

'O-okay,' Hiroki finally said and, with that, Ken pulled out of his pocket a very fancy looking mobile phone pressing a quick-dial button which made Hiroki realise that Ken and this 'friend' of his must be a really good one.

'Hey, it's me,' he heard Ken say as someone obviously answered the call, 'I'm doing great,' he said, 'as you know, I'm in Japan and I've just met this nice young man who may be exactly what you're looking for.'

Hiroki observed as Ken listened to whatever his friend was telling him then the thirty something man said, 'great, hang on a second,' he added removing the phone from his ear, 'hey, are you free tomorrow morning?'

'Yeah,' Hiroki replied and, bringing the phone back to his ear, Ken said:

'I'll bring him with me tomorrow at around ten, okay?'

It was almost lunch time when Hiroki and Ken left the café and as they were about to part ways, the older man said:

'Your former team will regret firing you. If you ask me, they don't have what it takes to make it big in the GP2 championship.'

'Why are you saying that?' Hiroki asked.

'It's obvious,' Ken replied, 'their lack of professionalism is astonishing: they shouldn't fire their drivers because of something as trivial as a fight between their drivers. It seems to me like they believe they're running a family business rather than the highly competitive racing team they think they are.'

Hiroki nodded to that noncommittally.

'Oh well,' Ken said, 'I'll pick you up here tomorrow morning at nine o'clock, okay?'

'Sure,' Hiroki replied and, with that, he observed Ken as he walked away from him feeling, yet again, an odd sensation nagging at him but, once more, he shook it off thinking that if he played his cards well he could very well be back behind the steering wheel of a GP2 car sometime very soon.

With that extremely refreshing thought, Hiroki walked back to his house.

Meanwhile, the seven most important members of the Takawara Racing Team were gathered in the Takahashi Motorsports Centre's main common room raking their brains as they tried to come up with a solution for the still unresolved issue of their lack of second driver.

'What about that guy we tested yesterday?' Kenta asked trying his best to be helpful, 'he wasn't that bad.'

'Kenta,' Fumihiro said, 'he almost crashed the car, remember?'

'Yeah,' Kenta replied, 'I forgot about that.'

'I think we should look into one of the junior categories,' Kizuna suggested.

'We can't,' Kyosuke said, 'they need to be over sixteen years old to get the license from the FIA.'

'If only you had had your daughter sooner she'd now be old enough,' Keisuke commented looking at Takumi accusingly then, realising that for Haruko to be over sixteen years of age she'd have to be born while Takumi was still mourning for his first wife's death, he hurried to apologise, 'sorry…I…'

'Forget it,' Takumi said shaking his head.

'Let's face it,' Akito said, 'we're running out of time…'

They all looked at him for a while before Kenta let out a very loud sigh.

'We should give it up,' Fumihiro said, 'it's useless to look only nationally.'

'Fumihiro…' Keisuke began to protest.

'Keisuke,' Fumihiro interrupted him, 'I know that you want an all-Japanese team but…'

'Oi!' Kizuna complained, reminding everyone that she was only fifty percent Japanese.

'Come on Kizuna,' Kyosuke said smiling at her, 'you know what Fumihiro meant.'

Kizuna was about to reply when they heard the very loud roar from a well known engine coming from outside.

'What's Grandpa doing in here?' Akito asked looking at his father who just shrugged his shoulders for Takumi had learned to expect absolutely everything from his old man. In any case, curiosity made all of them get up and walk towards the building's main entrance where they saw Bunta climbing out of his GC8.

'Hello there,' the old man said waving at them.

'What the…' Keisuke started, seeing the person who was getting out of the Subaru's passenger seat who, by the way, looked pretty frightened.

'I swear Bunta, this is the last time I let you drive.'

'You're such a pussy,' Bunta said to his old mate, the man formerly known as Drift King, Tsuchiya Keiichi who instead of replying to the seventy three years old, probably knowing how very useless it would be to try and retaliate, limited himself to give Bunta a sarcastic smile.

'Dad,' Takumi said, 'what's the meaning of this?'

'Hey kid,' Bunta suddenly said talking to his car, making Takumi frown in worry thinking that his father had finally gone senile, 'get out of there,' the old man added and then Takumi and the rest saw as a rather short and very young looking teenager climbed out of the Subaru.

'Grandpa, is this the place?' the kid asked talking to Keiichi.

'Yes, this is it,' Keiichi replied, 'what do you think?'

'It's very impressive,' the kid said.

'People,' Bunta said glancing at the seven other people present there, 'meet Tsuchiya Kojiro, he's this loser's grandkid.'

'Dad, what…' Takumi started.

'Hey Keisuke,' Bunta said clearly ignoring his son, 'get him into one of your cars so he can show us what he can do.'

As usual, Bunta's requests were promptly taken as an order and soon everyone was standing next to the centre's main racing track with Keiichi talking to his grandson while Kyosuke helped the teenager with the car's seatbelt.

'Alright Dad,' Takumi said, 'what's all of this?'

'You were looking for a driver, weren't you?' Bunta asked.

'Yes, of course,' Takumi replied.

'Well,' the old man said, 'I've just found you one.'

'But…' Keisuke started.

'Hey,' Bunta interrupted him, 'that kid there was supposed to take a break after graduating from the Formula Renault series in France but, since it's me who's asking, Keiichi has convinced him to drive for us.'

'The Formula Renault?' Fumihiro asked raising his eyebrows in surprise.

'Yep,' Bunta replied, 'the poor kid's been living in France for two whole years,' he added shuddering as he remembered his own horrible experience in the European country when Takumi and Keisuke had competed in the 24 hours of Le Mans.

'Is he any good?' Akito asked his grandfather.

'We'll soon find out, won't we?' Bunta replied.

Thirty five minutes later and as Kojiro entered his fifteenth lap around the circuit, they were all stunned to see the astonishingly good times the kid was actually making.

'He's good,' Bunta said.

'Of course he is!' Keiichi exclaimed, 'he's a Tsuchiya!'

Bunta looked at him as though as he was failing to see Keiichi's point and everyone had to bite their lower lips to prevent themselves from laughing.

'Tsuchiya-san,' Takumi said, 'how old is he?'

'Just turned eighteen,' the former Drift King replied, 'I know that he looks a lot younger because he's so short.'

'Does he have his FIA license?' Keisuke asked.

'Of course,' Keiichi replied.

Takumi and Keisuke looked at each other unable to believe their luck.

'I think we've found our driver,' Fumihiro sentenced.

'Hey,' Akito said, 'I'd like to know one thing.'

'What is it?' Keiichi asked the nineteen year old looking at him with a grandfatherly affection.

'Er…' Akito hesitated, 'does he have a girlfriend?'

'W-what? Keiichi stuttered looking positively taken aback by what possibly was the weirdest question ever.

'I know it's none of our business but, I really need to know,' Akito said trying to find the right words to get his point across.

'I think he's seeing a girl he met in France,' Keiichi replied.

Akito glanced at his grandfather's mate before looking around himself at his team then, smiling, he said:

'In that case, he's got my vote.'

Everyone burst out laughing and, soon after that, the Fujiwara-Takahashi-Tsuchiya alliance was born making Akito think that, this time, nothing would prevent his team from taking both GP2 titles.

_To be continued…_


	12. Chapter Eleven

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Eleven_

For once Akito was grateful that the flights from Tokyo to Europe lasted for over half a day and, as they flew over France on their way to Lisbon, Portugal, the nineteen year old saw the perfect opportunity to try and get to know his new team mate as a person since the only thing he knew about Kojiro, besides the fact that he was an extremely skilled driver, was that he seemed to be a team player who put the success of the team before his own.

So, taking the chance that Ryoko was sleeping and that Kyosuke had vacated his seat next to Kojiro to go and talk with his uncle, Akito got up and walked to where the eighteen year old sat seeing that he was reading some sports magazine in what Akito suspected it was French.

'Hey,' Akito said trying to get Kojiro's attention, 'do you mind if I…'

'Of course not,' Kojiro replied setting aside his magazine, 'please,' he added inviting Akito to take a seat making a light gesture with his hand.

'So, we're flying over France,' Akito commented using his friendliest tone of voice.

'Yep,' Kojiro said.

'Your girlfriend is French, isn't she?' Akito asked.

'Yes, she is,' Kojiro replied, apparently insisting in keeping his answers as short as possible.

'What's her name?' Akito asked.

'Isabelle,' Kojiro replied, 'Isabelle Lagarrigue.'

'Right,' Akito said laughing softly, 'I don't think I'll ever be able to pronounce that.'

'Yeah, it's kind of complicated,' Kojiro admitted with a small smile, 'it took me ages to learn how to say it properly.'

Akito raked his brain for a few instants trying to come up with something to say when, seeing that Kojiro was about to get his magazine again, he just decided to be honest with the guy:

'Listen,' Akito said, 'I just think we should get to know each other a bit better.'

'What?' Kojiro whispered while frowning at Akito worriedly, making the nineteen year old realise that his choice of words could have been interpreted in a really disturbing way.

'That came out wrong,' he hurried to say, 'what I meant is that…'

Kojiro looked at him for a bit until his features started relaxing.

'Ah, I get you,' he finally said chuckling softly, 'what do you need to know?'

'Er…I don't know…I mean…' Akito found himself stuttering, 'why don't you tell me about your life in France, for instance,' he somehow managed to say.

'Alright,' Kojiro said, 'you probably know that my parents died when I was little, don't you?'

'Yeah,' Akito replied still feeling quite sorry for him not even daring to imagine what that must have felt like for Kojiro. Sure, he could identify himself in the fact that he too had lost his mother but, he had never really met her and Natsuki had done such an excellent job replacing her that Akito had never really felt like an orphan.

'Well,' Kojiro continued, taking Akito out of his reverie, 'I grew up with my grandfather and, since he's taught me everything he knows about driving, getting into some sort of motorsport was just the most obvious thing to do for me so, when I turned sixteen, he took me to France where he had a friend of his working for a Formula Renault team and, like the French say, voilà…'

Akito laughed at that before saying:

'So you've been living in France for two years.'

'Yeah,' Kojiro said, 'it's a fantastic country: great food, amazing scenery.'

'Beautiful women?' Akito added teasingly.

'Definitely,' Kojiro replied smiling at his team mate in a way which made it pretty clear that he knew what he was talking about. That made Akito chuckle once again.

'You're funny,' Akito commented.

'Just honest,' Kojiro countered, 'you should meet some of Isabelle's girlfriends.'

'Quiet,' Akito whispered urgently as he looked over his seat to check that his girlfriend was still sleeping, 'if Ryoko hears you…'

'Sorry,' Kojiro whispered back smiling guiltily, 'I forgot you already have a girlfriend.'

'Yeah,' Akito confirmed, 'one who will skin us both alive if she ever hears us talking like that.'

Now it was Kojiro's turn to laugh.

'Hey,' he said as soon as he calmed down, 'can I ask you something?'

'Sure, fire away,' Akito replied.

'I had this agreement with my previous team mate and I wonder if you'd like to stick to it too.'

'What is it?' Akito asked.

'You've probably figured out by now that when I race with a team what I want the most is for my team to win,' Kojiro said then, seeing Akito's nod, he continued, 'well, I've always thought that two team mates should cooperate with each other in order to make that happen.'

'That's right,' Akito started, 'but…'

'Don't get me wrong,' Kojiro said, 'I do think that between team mates there should be some degree of healthy competition but I really don't like it when two team mates start fighting over who wins the races.'

'Yeah, I don't like that too much either,' Akito said talking through first hand experience.

'I've seen quite a few teams get ruined by the fact that their two drivers didn't know how to help each other,' Kojiro continued, 'so, what I propose is for this: we both do our best individually until the last pit stop then, whoever happens to be ahead after that gets to go for the victory whenever possible while the one left behind does whatever he can to help him.'

Akito looked at Kojiro for a bit trying to understand what his new team mate was asking of him then, he said:

'So, essentially, the one who stays behind will help the other to win?'

'If at all possible, yes,' Kojiro replied, 'what do you think?' he added now looking a tad on the insecure side.

'It sounds very reasonable,' Akito said using a non-committal tone of voice.

'Hey,' Kojiro started, 'if you don't want to use this system it's fine.'

'No,' Akito said, 'it's a great idea,' he added, 'it's just that it requires a great deal of trust to stick by it.'

'I trust you,' Kojiro said firmly.

'No offence,' Akito said, 'but you hardly know me.'

Kojiro looked a bit startled for a second before he smiled once again.

'That's true,' he admitted, 'but my grandfather trusts yours and I feel like I can trust you too.'

'Fair enough,' Akito said, 'alright, let's do it your way then.'

'Thank you,' Kojiro said.

'Do you mind if I ask you something?' Akito asked after a few moments of silence.

'Of course not,' Kojiro replied.

'What are you aiming for, I mean professionally speaking?'

'I'm not too sure,' Kojiro said and his grin started faltering, 'at first I wanted to go for F1 but I'm not quite so sure anymore.'

'Why not?' Akito asked.

'Because I'm getting more interested in driving real cars rather than single-seaters,' Kojiro replied, 'I don't know, I'll probably get into drifting.'

'Well, that's normal,' Akito commented, 'after all, you are the Drift King's grandson.'

'That's the main problem,' Kojiro said now looking definitely serious, 'I don't want to use my grandfather's fame to become famous. That's one of the reasons why I went to France.'

'I so know what you mean,' Akito commented.

'Yeah, our surnames are not making our lives very easy, are they?' Kojiro asked.

'Nope,' Akito replied giving his team mate a small smile before the two of them let out a chuckle.

Both racers spent the rest of the flight talking and by the time Akito had to get up to go back to his seat he realised that he had just made a really good friend who not only shared but also understood a lot of his points of view.

'You look happy,' Ryoko commented as the two of them unpacked their small suitcases in the Portuguese hotel room where they would stay during the whole weekend.

'I am,' Akito said, 'Kojiro's a great guy.'

'Really?' Ryoko asked him looking dubious.

'Yeah,' Akito replied, 'honestly, I don't know what's with him but I feel like I've known him for my whole life.'

'Okay,' Ryoko said, 'just be careful. I don't want you to…'

'Ryoko,' Akito interrupted her putting his index finger over her mouth, 'Kojiro's definitely not like Hiroki,' he added then, grinning at his girlfriend, he said, 'besides, you are pretty much safe: not only Kojiro's got a girlfriend but also, he doesn't like Japanese girls very much.'

'Why not?' Ryoko asked and Akito just laughed at her offended expression.

The morning after the whole team made it to the circuit of Estoril where the first of the practice sessions would be held when, entering the paddock area, Akito saw something which made him stop right where he was.

'What in the…' he heard Kyosuke say.

'What is he doing in here?' Ryoko asked with her voice sounding slightly panicky as she squeezed Akito's hand.

'I don't know,' Akito replied darkly.

'Oh, look at who's here,' Hiroki sneered walking towards them with a guy who looked to be in his late forties, 'I see you managed to find yourselves another driver.'

'What are you doing here?' Keisuke asked the twenty year old using such a harsh tone of voice that it freaked even Akito out.

'He's working for me,' the guy in his forties replied instead of Hiroki.

'Kobita,' Keisuke started, still keeping a frown on his face, 'I didn't know you needed another driver.'

'I didn't,' this Kobita guy said, 'he's working as a test driver but I'll probably promote him to a race seat very soon if he keeps working this hard.'

'I see,' Keisuke said then, glancing back to his team, he said, 'let's go.'

No one dared to argue that order and, as they walked into the box which had been assigned to the Takawara Racing Team, Akito approached his father and asked:

'Dad, do you know this Kobita guy?'

'Nope,' Takumi replied, 'but I wouldn't worry about him too much: you've got to focus on the race.'

'Yeah, I know,' Akito said then, pushing his curiosity to the back of his mind, he made his way towards the motorhome where he found Kojiro already getting changed.

'So,' Kojiro started, 'that was your ex-team mate, wasn't it?'

'Yeah,' Akito replied.

'Awfully friendly, huh?' Kojiro said smiling sarcastically.

'You've got no idea of how much,' Akito replied shaking his head, 'between you and me, I don't like having him around.'

'Don't worry about him,' Kojiro said, 'you heard that guy: he's a test driver so he's not going to be anywhere near the track in the whole weekend.'

'You're perfectly right,' Akito agreed as he smiled at his new team mate, 'I hope you don't mind me saying this but, you're surprisingly mature for your age.'

'I've been living by myself in a foreign country since I was sixteen,' Kojiro said shrugging his shoulders, 'I guess that leading that kind of life teaches you a thing or two.'

'I'm sure it does,' Akito said before adding, 'let's hurry or Keisuke-san will get pissed off.'

'He's not that bad,' Kojiro commented.

'You say that because he's not your girlfriend's father,' Akito countered.

'Fair point,' the eighteen year old said and not even ten minutes later, both drivers were reporting for duty, ready to smash the track's current record.

Forty eight hours later and with Akito having somehow managed to avoid running into Hiroki again, the nineteen year old placed his car in the third position on the grid. He then glanced at the two other cars in front of him: the pole holder, the red and yellow Supernova driven by some Brazilian guy and the bright orange car belonging to the Kobita Racing Team.

Three cars behind Akito's, in seventh position, it was Kojiro's yellow, white and black car. Not a bad result considering this was his first GP2 race ever.

'Alright Akito,' he heard Keisuke's voice say through the radio, 'let's stick to our strategy: keep your position until the first pit stop.'

'I know,' Akito said.

There wasn't time to say anything else as, three minutes before they turned the lights green to allow the warm up to begin, the mechanics and other support staff were ordered to clear the grid.

Five minutes after that, all twenty six cars waited not so patiently for the lights to turn themselves off so the race would start and, when that happened, they all took off all trying to get to the first corner before everyone else.

Half a lap later, and having kept in mind his team's strategy, Akito was holding on to his third position when, finally having the microsecond he needed to do so, he stole a quick look at the mini computer screen inset in his car's steering wheel where he saw that Kojiro was already immediately behind him.

'Crap, that was quick,' Akito muttered to himself as he negotiated a right hander.

'He is,' he heard his father's voice say with such a surprised tone that it made Akito smirk.

A few laps later Akito realised for the first time since he'd become a professional racer what it was like having a team mate who had your back through and trough so, feeling extremely grateful of the work Kojiro was doing for him, Akito vowed himself to give the best he had.

'I'm going to pass him,' Akito said over the radio after spending six whole laps glued to the rear of the Kobita Team's car.

'Not yet,' Keisuke ordered.

'But…'

'Focus,' he then heard his father say.

'Fine,' Akito said.

Ten laps after that, and as Akito was about to bypass the pit lane's entrance, he heard his father's voice again:

'Get in, quickly!'

Veering sharply into the pit lane, Akito realised that he was following the Kobita Team's car into the boxes and only then he figured out what Keisuke's real intentions were:

The Kobita Team's box was placed just a couple of doors before that of the Takawara Team's so, when Akito stopped his car and after an amazingly fast pit stop, the nineteen year old got back onto the pit lane just a hair before the bright orange car belonging to the Kobita Team.

In short: Akito had just overtaken him at the pit lane and if that wasn't enough, as he re-entered the track, Akito learned through his car's computer screen that the Supernova which had been leading the race had just retired due to a mechanical failure.

'You're first,' Takumi said.

'I know,' Akito replied and glancing at his car's rear view mirrors, he saw that the Kobita Team's car was literally glued to his single-seater's rear wing so he spent the following two laps blocking every single one of his opponent's attacks while trying to put as much distance as he could between them.

With only fifteen laps to go, he and the Kobita Team's car were passing by the pit lane's exit when Akito saw something which made him feel completely flabbergasted:

Kojiro, who had obviously just stopped for his pit stop, was re-entering the track and even though he could have overtaken him fairly easily, the eighteen year old seemed to slow down for just a tiny instant, before speeding again the second Akito had passed him.

The nineteen year old then realised what Kojiro had wanted to do as he saw him blocking the car belonging to the Kobita Team.

'You've got less than half a lap to go flat out,' Akito heard Keisuke say, 'after that Kojiro will be forced to let him pass.'

Half a lap later, Akito had managed to build enough of a lead to make him able to cross the finish line in a very comfortable first position and, after he and Keisuke went to pick up both driver's and team's trophies, Akito rushed back to his team's box and towards his new team mate, smiling as he did so.

'Thanks mate,' Akito said grasping Kojiro's shoulder, 'I'm simply speechless.'

'Don't worry about it,' Kojiro replied shaking his head, 'I told you: as long as you're ahead, I'll do everything I can so you win.'

Akito opened his mouth to say something when they both heard Hiroki's sarcastic laughter coming from the door which lead from the box to the paddock area.

'Now I get it,' the twenty year old said maliciously, 'your daddy's hired this loser so he does all the dirty work for you.'

'Hey,' Akito started, 'he's not a…'

'Forget it,' Kojiro said to him then, looking at Hiroki, he added, 'we've won the race and that's all it matters.'

'You fuc…' Hiroki started.

'Let's go, Akito,' Kojiro said completely ignoring the poor Hiroki, 'you've got a press conference to go to.'

'Yeah,' Akito agreed, 'let's go.'

With that, both Akito and Kojiro walked past a furious looking Hiroki then, Kobita, who had witnessed the whole exchange, walked towards his test driver and whispered:

'You'll get the chance to kick their asses very soon, I promise.'

'I can't wait,' Hiroki said with his gaze fixed on the two other racers and seeing how very friendly his ex-team mate seemed to be to the newcomer made him feel extremely jealous since he had never received any such treatment from Akito, this made his hatred towards the Takawara Team increase one more notch.

Sooner or later and with the help of his new team manager, Hiroki promised himself that he would teach Akito a lesson he would never forget.

_To be continued…_


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Twelve_

For the second race of the Junior Karting Championship and since for once it didn't coincide with any of the GP-2 races, Haruko Fujiwara had her whole family plus all three of the ex-Lonely Drivers sitting there with their families all ready to support her and to cheer for her.

'I don't like having so many people here,' Haruko commented to her best friend Toshi as the two of them walked back from the vending machine where they had got themselves a couple of cans of pineapple juice.

'Hey,' the boy said, 'during the last race you kept complaining that your father and brother weren't there to watch your race.'

'I know I did,' Haruko admitted, 'be careful with what you wish for, huh?' she added with a sarcastic smirk.

'You're just nervous,' Toshi said before he could help himself.

'What?' the girl exclaimed stopping right where she was, 'I am not…'

'Alright, alright,' Toshi said putting both of his hands up, spilling a bit of his juice in the process, 'you're not nervous.'

'No, I'm not,' Haruko sentenced and, with that, she walked away from her best friend looking positively annoyed.

'She's nervous,' Toshi muttered to himself and then he started running after the girl.

Fifteen minutes later all the racers were ordered to get into their karts.

'We've double checked everything, haven't we?' Iketani asked Bunta.

'Yeah, the pipe which gave her problems during the last race is brand new so she shouldn't have any trouble getting the maximum speed out of the kart's engine,' the old man replied then, looking at his granddaughter, he added, 'just go and do your thing.'

'I will,' Haruko said as she climbed into the kart's small seat, allowing her father to help her with the seatbelts.

'You're ready,' Takumi said patting his little girl's small shoulder.

'Go and show them what you're made of,' Akito said to his sister and, unbeknownst to him, his enthusiasm made the poor girl so nervous that she only managed to nod to him.

'Calm down,' she whispered to herself and, as she drove around the small karting circuit located in the outskirts of the city of Chiba, in the homonymous prefecture, the girl realised that it was probably the fact that she had all three generations of Fujiwara men watching her every move intently which made her feel so tense.

She was wondering how her older brother managed to cope with all the pressure when he realised that she had to clear her mind of these negative sensations so, and by the time she reached the starting grid, Haruko had already decided to forget about everything and everyone so she could focus on the race ahead properly. She would worry about her anxiety later: right now, she needed all of her concentration to make sure she could hold onto the pole position she had conquered during the qualifying session.

'Wow,' Akito gasped as he watched his baby sister taking off so fast that he had trouble following her with his eyes, 'is she always this fast?'

'During the races, yes,' Bunta replied.

'Gosh,' Takumi said cupping his forehead with his hand, 'I'm not sure I can watch this live.'

'Pussy,' Bunta said laughing at his son, 'Akito goes a lot faster that that and I never hear you complain.'

'Yes but she's just…'

'If you say that she's just a little girl…'

'No,' Takumi interrupted his father, 'I was going to say that she's just turned eleven and that…'

Bunta's laughter made Takumi realise that his father was just winding him up and that made Akito want to chuckle too but, for the sake of his father's dignity, the nineteen year old refrained from doing so.

'Hey, you three,' they all heard a very worried Natsuki say, 'are you going to pay any attention to Haruko's race or what?'

'Yeah, sorry,' Takumi said to his wife before looking for his daughter's kart around the circuit. Predictably enough, she was still leading the race and she didn't seem to be having any problems holding onto that position.

Five laps before the end of the race Fujiwara Haruko was beginning to get almost bored for she had built up such a huge lead that she barely heard any of her direct opponents when she saw a kart in front of her going at a ridiculously slow speed.

'Great,' Haruko muttered sarcastically as she prepared herself to overtake the obstacle while wondering the reason why its driver had not decided to quit the race for the poor vehicle was quite visibly struggling to stay on the track.

Then, just as she drove past it, she saw as the slower kart veered dangerously towards the right side of hers and the sudden move made her stare at its driver for a second longer than she could really afford.

'Watch out!' Akito shouted in vain for there was no way his sister could ever hear him.

'Baby!' Natsuki exclaimed as everyone saw Haruko fighting with the steering wheel of her kart as she desperately tried to get the kart back under her control.

Only her highly honed reflexes prevented her from crashing frontally against the wall made up of tyres, instead, she ended up colliding against it sideways before the re-bounce sent her flying across the track, landing right in the middle of it facing the opposite sense of the race and with the kart's engine stalled due to the violence of the impact against the ground.

'Haruko!' Takumi exclaimed as he ran towards the track where the marshals were already on their way to Haruko so they could get her kart out of the way.

'Dad,' the girl sobbed as Takumi finally made it to where she was.

'Hey,' he said crouching next to her and hugging her tightly for just a brief instant, 'are you okay?'

'No,' the girl replied and as she removed her helmet Takumi saw that his daughter was doing something she rarely did: crying.

'Baby,' he said hugging her again, 'it's okay.'

'No!' she exclaimed pushing herself away from her father, 'for once you and Oniichan were here…I…I just...I just wanted you two to see me win,' she finally managed to say.

'Hey,' Takumi said beginning to feel extremely guilty, 'I'll be here for your next race and for the one after that.'

'That's not true,' Haruko said, 'you and Oniichan will be away for the GP2 races and…'

'Is she alright?' Natsuki asked as she, Akito and Bunta got to where Takumi and Haruko were.

'Of course she is,' Bunta said and, ignoring the fact that his granddaughter was crying, he added, 'it takes a lot more than just a silly accident to make you upset, isn't that right?' he asked to the eleven year old girl as he tussled her medium length hair.

'Yeah,' Haruko nodded as she wiped the tears off her face. Akito then let out a chuckle which shocked all the members of his family.

'I've got to give it to you,' he said, 'you're better than I am even when you crash.'

'What?' the little girl asked looking very confused.

'Look at your kart,' Akito explained pointing at the small vehicle parked nearby, 'it's almost unharmed. The last time I had an accident, the biggest bit I left in one piece of the car was the cockpit and that's because it's virtually unbreakable.'

Haruko looked at her older brother for just a second before she too started laughing making Natsuki wish for the umpteenth time that her little girl had taken a lot more from her than just her looks for the girl didn't seem to possess an ounce of self-preservation instinct.

'Alright,' Takumi said, 'let's pack up so we can go back home.'

'I'll go and tell the guys that you're okay,' Natsuki said walking back to where the other three families were.

That same evening, Akito took his car out of the garage to drive to Maebashi where he would meet up with Kyosuke to go up Mt. Akagi.

'Don't stay out till too late,' Takumi said to his son, 'we've got practice tomorrow.'

'Don't worry,' Akito assured him, 'I'll be at the circuit at eight o'clock.'

An hour later, Akito parked his Toyota behind Kyosuke's Mazda at the car park which was on top of the Mt Akagi pass seeing that only Seisuke's white RZ-1 and a dark grey Nissan 350Z were there meaning that, for the first time in a long while, Kizuna had joined the Golden Arrows for their weekend gathering.

Seeing that, Akito suddenly understood the reason why Kyosuke had been in such a hurry to leave his house and as the nineteen year old climbed out of his car, he looked at his team's leader with a smirk on his face.

'Aniki, Akito,' Seisuke exclaimed seeing his brother and his best friend there, 'you guys are late!'

'No we're not,' Kyosuke countered, 'it's you two who are early.'

'How's married life?' Akito asked to Seisuke teasingly.

'Great,' Seisuke replied, 'it's a bit weird and I keep waking up in the middle of the night feeling slightly disoriented but I'm getting used to living with Misa.'

'Well it's only been a couple of weeks,' Kyosuke said.

'That's true,' Seisuke admitted, 'you know what,' he added, 'I don't know why you two don't try it. I mean, living together, after all, Kizuna's got her own apartment too so…'

A short but very uncomfortable silence followed until Akito, after clearing his throat rather noisily, he asked:

'Why don't we get some warming up done while we wait for the rest?'

'Yeah,' Kizuna replied, 'that's an excellent idea.'

Then, before waiting for their team leader's approval, both Kizuna and Akito walked back towards their cars.

'Aniki…' Seisuke started saying.

'Let's go too,' Kyosuke said and, completely ignoring his younger brother's protests, he too climbed into his car leaving Seisuke with no other option but to do the same.

'Fair enough, Aniki,' Seisuke muttered to himself as he turned the car's engine on, 'if you want to make things difficult then I'll humour you.'

With the V-86 and the 350Z nowhere to be seen, Seisuke drove off and down the hill keeping himself as close as possible to the back of his older brother's RZ-1, waiting patiently till he could do what he had in mind.

A few corners from the bit where the pass became a lot steeper, Seisuke did what no one had ever seen him do: he overtook his older brother in one swift and highly aggressive manoeuvre.

After that he stopped the car forcing Kyosuke to brake violently too.

'What the hell!' Kyosuke exclaimed climbing out of his car and rushing towards Seisuke who was also getting out of his RZ-1.

'Aniki,' Seisuke hurried to say, refusing to feel intimidated by the sudden and totally uncharacteristic display of anger coming from his older brother, 'I've had enough with this secretiveness of yours.'

'What are you…'

'Don't do that,' Seisuke begged him, 'don't push me away like you always do.'

'Seis…'

'I know things between you and Kizuna are not going as well as they used to.'

'Seisuke…'

'Aniki, I just want to know what's wrong with you two,' Seisuke said, 'please,' he added.

Kyosuke looked at his younger brother for a short while before nodding in surrender.

'Let's get the cars out of the way and I'll tell you,' he said.

'Don't drive off or I'll chase you,' Seisuke warned him.

'I wouldn't even dream of it,' Kyosuke said offering him a small smile, 'you're almost as crazy as Akito.'

'I'll try to take that as a compliment,' Seisuke laughed.

'It kind of is,' Kyosuke admitted before climbing back into his car.

Five minutes later both brothers were sitting on top of the guardrail of a sector of the pass which was never used for racing and Kyosuke explained as quickly as he could what had happened almost five weeks before at the end of the first GP2 race in Australia.

'Shit,' Seisuke said sighing audibly, 'why didn't you tell me earlier?'

'I don't know…'

'Aniki,' Seisuke started, trying to keep an even tone of voice for it was beginning to tremble, 'you know what annoys me the most about you?'

'N-no…'

'The fact that you always keep everything to yourself.'

'What? That's not…'

'You do Aniki,' Seisuke insisted, 'ever since we were kids you never told us what worried you until you realised that you couldn't cope with it anymore. You've got to stop doing that.'

'But…'

'Honestly,' Seisuke said, 'I'm a lot stronger than you believe and I think you should trust me more.'

'Seisuke, Misa had just had her accident and, like I told Akito, I didn't want you to get even more worried.'

'Akito knows?' Seisuke asked with his voice sounding so shocked that it didn't even seem like him.

'Yeah,' Kyosuke replied, 'I had to tell someone.'

'And of course, you go to the worst possible person,' Seisuke said, 'no offence Aniki but whereas you may be a genius when it comes to cars and Akito's a freak of nature when it comes to racing, out of the three of us there's no one who knows more about girls and about their psyche than I do.'

Kyosuke looked at his younger brother and with a short chuckle, he nodded his agreement.

'That's probably true,' he admitted, 'after all, you can't even remember how many girls you've been with.'

'That's not true,' Seisuke said, 'I do remember.'

'Really?' Kyosuke asked him sceptically.

'Hey,' Seisuke protested, 'we're not talking about my love life here,' he added, 'we're talking about yours and I know exactly what you need to do to fix it.'

'What do you mean?' Kyosuke asked feeling a rush of apprehension invading his body.

'You want to stay and she wants to go,' Seisuke said, 'let's something decide who has to give in.'

'And what is that?' Kyosuke was brave enough to ask.

'A race,' Seisuke replied.

'A what? Are you nuts?'

'Nope,' Seisuke said, 'you two race, whoever wins does what the other wants.'

'But that's unfair,' Kyosuke complained.

'I know,' Seisuke replied smirking at his older brother, 'she's a much better driver than you are.'

'What?' Kyosuke exclaimed then, realising that Seisuke was just making fun of him, he added, 'hey, just because you've moved out and are independent it doesn't mean I can't kick you ass whenever I want.'

'I love it when you get aggressive,' Seisuke said still teasing his brother then, and getting serious one more time, he said, 'Aniki, you seriously need to win this race: one thing is coping with us living in different prefectures but living in completely different continents…I don't think I could handle that.'

'Seisuke…' Kyosuke said sounding somewhere in between confused and worried.

'Let's go back up,' Seisuke interrupted him, 'Akito and Kizuna will think we've gone MIA.'

By the time both RZ-1s got back up the summit, they saw that the whole of the Golden Arrows were already there.

'Hey guys,' Seisuke said, 'we've got a special event tonight.'

'Seisuke,' Kyosuke protested.

'Ah, sorry Aniki,' Seisuke said, 'I forgot you're the one who wants to issue the challenge.'

'What's going on?' Akito asked the two brothers but none of them chose to reply to his question, instead, Kyosuke walked purposely towards Kizuna and said:

'Okay, let's race.'

'What?' Kizuna exclaimed then, whispering so low that only he could hear her, she said, 'what are you playing at?'

'This is not a game Kizuna,' Kyosuke replied, 'we race: whoever wins the race wins our argument.'

'What are you talking about?'

'You know which one: if I win the race, we both stay in Japan,' Kyosuke interrupted her.

'And if I win?' Kizuna asked.

'Then we go to the US.'

'Together?'

'Together,' he confirmed.

'You're not kidding, are you?' Kizuna asked.

'I've never been any more serious in my life,' Kyosuke replied.

Kizuna looked at her boyfriend for a while, probably considering all of her options then, she smiled and nodded:

'Alright, let's race.'

_To be continued…_


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Thirteen_

Racing against one another wasn't all that strange for the Golden Arrows since they constantly competed against each other in order to get some practice or, most of the times, just to have some fun which, after all, was the whole point of founding a street racing team in the first place.

However and as Kyosuke and Kizuna lined their cars up at the start of the short straight which led to the first of a series of low speed corners in the Mt. Akagi's pass, every one of their team mates held their breath for they knew that this wasn't a practice race and both drivers were definitely not doing it for the fun of it.

'I can't believe they're doing this,' Junya commented to an astonished looking Shinji.

'Me neither,' the younger man replied.

'Don't tell Kyosuke-san,' Masato said to Izawa, 'but my money's on Kizuna.'

'Why is that?' Izawa asked his team mate and long time friend.

'Don't get me wrong,' Masato replied, 'Kyosuke-san is one of the best drivers I've ever seen but, they're racing downhill and that's Kizuna's forte.'

'Aniki's done that on purpose,' Seisuke explained, 'since Kizuna's car is a lot older than his, he doesn't want to have too many advantages.'

'Still,' Akito said, 'I don't think this is a good idea.'

'Why not?' Seisuke asked.

'Think about it,' Akito replied, 'how would you feel if you were to race against Misa?'

'Akito, this is totally different.'

'Really? How is that?'

'Because they both have a very good reason to win and therefore none of them can afford to lose,' Seisuke explained.

'Yeah but…'

'If you raced Ryoko you would let her win, wouldn't you?' Izawa teased Akito.

'Duh!' Akito exclaimed, 'of course I would.'

'I don't blame you,' Seisuke said, 'that baby cousin of mine's got a very feisty temperament.'

'Feisty temperament?' Akito asked sarcastically, 'that's putting it very mildly.'

'Guys, they're starting,' Junya commented as they all heard both RZ-1's and 350Z's engines roaring as their drivers got ready to start the downhill.

Meanwhile, inside the yellow Mazda, Kyosuke prepared himself mentally for what he believed it was going to be his hardest battle yet. Not because he thought he lacked the necessary skills to beat Kizuna but because he wished he could shake off the weird feeling which, for some reason, prevented him from focusing one hundred percent on the race.

And that, in Kyosuke's opinion, was very bad news.

At the go, the older of the Takahashi brothers saw as the dark grey Nissan just took off one microsecond before he did.

'Dammit!' Kyosuke exclaimed as he tried to catch up with her.

Unfortunately, the way Mt. Akagi was laid out made it very difficult for anyone to overtake whoever started the race ahead as the first, slower section which led to the fastest, steeper part of the pass, was too narrow for the two cars to be able to race side by side safely.

Letting out a long breath, Kyosuke decided to postpone any attacks until the first of the hairpins where, he hoped, his skill could make the difference. Until then, he would just do his best to try and keep up with Kizuna.

'Gosh…' he whispered to himself seeing the unusually aggressive way the girl used to tackle each of the high speed corners with which the pass announced the sharp downhill sector, 'alright,' he added, 'have it your way.'

Pressing the accelerator even further down, Kyosuke shortened the distance which separated his car's front bumper from Kizuna's rear one all the while being extremely careful not to push her more than it was strictly necessary for the last thing he wanted was to provoke an accident.

He let out another noisy sigh as he saw that Kizuna was increasing her speed even more, putting both cars well beyond the one hundred and twenty kilometres per hour mark.

'Baby, come on,' Kyosuke muttered as though as he thought Kizuna could hear him and wishing he had insisted on keeping their radios switched on.

By the time they reached the first of the hairpins the sensation which had been nagging at him had become so insistent that Kyosuke had a lot of trouble concentrating enough to start what he hoped would be the first and only attack he'd have to do on Kizuna:

Driving like a madman, almost as aggressively as Akito and Seisuke did, Kyosuke chose to change his line, managing to enter the RZ-1's nose into the corner just a hair before Kizuna did but, and just as Kyosuke was about to press the accelerator, Kizuna veered towards the inside of the turn cutting Kyosuke's line in the process forcing him to brake again.

'Shit,' he said hitting the steering wheel with his left hand, 'this has been a very bad idea,' he added as he made his mind up to try one more attack, at the next hairpin. If it didn't work, he would just give it up for he was slowly realising the reason why he was so obviously reluctant to overtake Kizuna.

Then, and as they entered the following hairpin, he saw that the dark grey Nissan opened up way too much leaving an enormous space in the inside of the turn.

Frowning in confusion for just the shortest of instants, Kyosuke didn't think twice before flooring the accelerator, opening the throttle to the point where he almost lost control of the vehicle, feeling as though as his RZ-1 was flying as he entered, went through and exited the corner, somehow finding himself in front of Kizuna's car.

Grabbing himself to the steering wheel, Kyosuke felt as all his body tensed up in preparation for what he knew it was going to be the worst retaliation ever.

He was wrong because, for some reason, Kizuna seemed to give up the race altogether effectively stopping her car somewhere close to the point where, an eternity ago, Akito's father had parked his car after blowing the AE86's engine during the race versus the EVO III.

'What the…' Kyosuke said as he too pulled the RZ-1 out of the road, switching the hazard lights on as he climbed out of the car.

'It's over,' he heard Kizuna say as the girl got out of her Nissan too.

'Kizuna…'

'You've passed me,' Kizuna interrupted him, 'we both know that once you're ahead there's no way to overtake you again.'

'But…'

'It's over,' she repeated, 'you would have won the race so it was useless to continue.'

'That's not true,' Kyosuke said, 'we're still far from the finish line.'

'Kyosuke,' Kizuna interrupted him again, 'I don't feel like racing you.'

'But…'

'I don't know why but, I just feel that this is wrong,' Kizuna continued.

'Me too,' Kyosuke finally admitted then, taking a very deep breath, he added, 'I give up, let's do whatever you want.'

'What?' Kizuna asked him sounding utterly astounded.

'Look,' Kyosuke said, 'the way you were driving just now has shown me how desperate you are to go back home. I can't possibly ask you to stay here when you so obviously don't want to.'

Kizuna shushed him by placing the tips of her fingers over his mouth.

'Kyosuke,' she started, sounding so extremely miserable that he felt his heart cringe painfully, 'that's not the reason why I was racing like that.'

'It's not?' he asked as she moved her hand from over his mouth to place it onto one of his shoulders.

'No,' Kizuna replied, 'the reason was that I knew that unless I gave all I have you would end up beating me.'

'What?'

'Kyosuke, we both know that you're way better than I am,' she said, 'which makes me wonder the reason why you failed in that first attack of yours. Your timing was completely off.'

'I know,' he admitted.

'What happened?' she asked.

'Kizuna,' he replied, 'I just didn't want you to feel that you had to stay just because I won this stupid race.'

The young woman looked at Kyosuke's handsome face for a while before shaking her head in defeat.

'You know I never stood a chance,' she said, 'neither for this race nor for our argument.'

'What to do you mean?' Kyosuke asked her feeling suddenly very confused.

'I love you,' Kizuna said, 'I can't…no, I don't want to live anywhere else but with you.'

'Really?' Kyosuke asked sounding sceptical.

'Yeah,' Kizuna replied now sounding a tad on the exasperated side, 'and if you dare to repeat what I've just said to anyone else I'll kill you, okay?'

'Alright,' Kyosuke said feeling his lips as they curved into a huge grin, 'your secret's safe with me: no one will ever know that, deep down, you're a softy.'

'I'm not a…'

Kyosuke quieted her by kissing her full on her mouth then, separating himself from her just a couple of inches, he said:

'Does this mean that we get to stay in Japan?'

'If you keep being this passionate, yes,' Kizuna replied with a cheeky smile.

'Alright,' Kyosuke repeated then, lowering himself onto his right knee, he took her hand and said:

'Now, Kizuna Ethridge, what will you say if, once again, I ask you to marry me?'

Kizuna laughed out loud before going down on her knees too, 'yes,' she said as she did so, 'yes, I'll marry you,' she added just to be clear.

'Hallelujah,' Kyosuke exclaimed happily as he hugged the girl who had just become his fiancée as tightly as he could.

The drive up to the top had never feel any better as Kyosuke followed Kizuna's dark grey Nissan all the way back to where fourteen other drivers were waiting to receive news about the outcome of the race.

'So?' Seisuke asked looking very apprehensive.

'You aren't getting rid of us anytime soon,' Kizuna replied still holding Kyosuke's hand.

'YES!' he exclaimed running to his older brother and giving him a one armed hug.

'Hey Seisuke,' Kyosuke said, 'would you mind being my best man?'

'What?'

'We're going to get married,' Kizuna announced and that provoked a huge commotion among the members of the Golden Arrows who, one by one, congratulated the newly engaged couple.

'About bloody time,' Akito said patting Kyosuke on his arm.

'Look who's talking,' Kizuna protested as she defended her fiancé.

'Hey,' Akito said, 'Ryoko and I are a lot younger than you guys! Besides, we're already practically engaged anyway.'

'That's true,' Kyosuke admitted.

'Yeah,' Seisuke said, 'but I can't wait till you and Ryoko tie the knot.'

'Why not?' Akito asked.

'Because I'm looking forward to seeing Uncle Keisuke's reaction when he'll have to give our precious baby cousin away.'

Akito just swallowed nervously for he, unlike the two Takahashi brothers, wasn't particularly in a hurry to experience that moment.

Thankfully for him, as the Takawara Racing Team gathered the morning after for their practice session, all the attention seemed to be focused on Kyosuke and Kizuna after they made their engagement public.

'I can't believe this,' Keisuke said to Takumi, 'do you remember when Kyosuke was just a tiny baby?'

'I do,' Takumi replied.

'Geez, I even remember when Akiko and Aniki got engaged and now, now it's their kid who's getting married.'

'Time has flown by, hasn't it?' Takumi asked.

'Yeah,' Keisuke replied, 'man, we're getting old! In only three years I'll turn fifty.'

'Nah,' Takumi said shaking his head, 'deep down, we're always going to be like kids.'

'Very deep down,' Keisuke said sounding rather sceptical

'Look at my father,' Takumi insisted, 'I think that as he gets older in age, his mental age regresses. Soon he's not even going to be old enough to drive a car, at least mentally speaking…'

'That's true,' Keisuke admitted.

At the same time, Akito was curious to find out the reason behind the huge grin Kojiro seemed to have on his face too.

'Ah,' he replied when Akito questioned him, 'life is truly beautiful.'

'Alright,' the nineteen year old said feeling slightly freaked out, 'and why is that?'

'I just found out that the next race is going to be in France,' Kojiro replied.

'I know that.'

'And Isabelle is coming to watch the race,' Kojiro added happily.

'Ah,' Akito said, 'I see what you mean.'

'Hey you two,' Kyosuke shouted at them as he walked past, 'cut the chatter: we've got work to do!'

'Geez,' Akito muttered, 'I thought that after getting engaged he would lighten up a bit.'

Kojiro just laughed at that as he followed Akito to the changing room where they would get into their racing suits.

With Kyosuke and Kizuna being back to the highly efficient team they used to be, the car working better than ever and Kojiro counting the seconds till the plane touched down at the Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris, France, Akito couldn't help but to smile thinking that his team had not been in such high spirits in a very long time.

'Let's go for a walk,' Ryoko proposed after they finished unpacking their suitcases in their small hotel room in Nevers, the city which hosted the circuit of Magny Course, 'I want to practice my French.'

'I didn't know you could speak French,' Akito said raising his eyebrows in surprise.

'Akito,' Ryoko replied, 'what do you think happens after studying a language for over five years?'

'I don't know,' Akito replied, 'I've studied English since forever and I totally suck at it.'

'Oh well,' Ryoko said, 'I've been practicing my French with Kojiro and he says that I've got a very good accent.'

'Really?' Akito asked sounding a tad on the concerned side.

'Hey,' Ryoko said taking both of his hands in hers, looking at him in the eye, 'you don't have any reason to worry: that guy is absolutely head over heels in love with his girl. It's essentially all he talks about when he doesn't speak about racing.'

'That's a very comforting thing to hear,' Akito said honestly.

'So,' Ryoko insisted, 'are you taking me out for a walk or what?'

Akito chucked softly before nodding, 'as if I could say no to you.'

'You could try,' Ryoko said, 'but I would probably ignore you anyway.'

Not having a doubt about that, Akito limited himself to smile at his girlfriend before walking out of their hotel room after her.

He had to admit it, Nevers was a truly beautiful city with its main sight being the Cathedrale of Saint Cyr-Saint Julitte, a portion of which dated all the way back to the fourteenth century.

'It's so beautiful,' Ryoko whispered as they amazed themselves with the huge arches inside the church's main nave.

'Yeah,' Akito agreed, 'I'm a bit thirsty: shall we go and get a coffee or something?'

'Sure,' Ryoko said and, with that, they walked the short distance which separated the cathedral from the Place de la Republique, a huge rectangular shaped square with three sectors covered with grass which twin rows of trees at either side of them.

'Oh,' Ryoko gasped, 'can you wait for me here? I'll only be a minute.'

'Of course,' Akito replied and then he saw as Ryoko ran to a nearby shop which sold souvenirs.

Shaking his head and knowing his girlfriend well enough to realise that this 'minute' was going to be a bit longer than sixty seconds, Akito started looking around himself trying to find a bench or something similar where he could take a seat when, instead of that, he saw his nemesis walking towards him talking to a guy who looked horribly familiar to Akito.

'Oh gosh,' Hiroki said, 'are you stalking me or what?'

'No,' Akito replied and was about to add something else when, observing the other guy, he realised that it was that man in his mid-thirties who had threatened Akito during the race in Spain, 'hey, you are…'

'My name's Hashimoto Ken, do I know you?'

'What…' Akito said, 'of course you.'

'What did I tell you?' Hiroki said, 'he's got such a big head we'd need a football stadium to hold it.'

'Hiroki…' Akito started, as he tried to warn his ex-team mate.

'Let's go,' Hashimoto said, 'you better get some rest so you can be ready for the race.'

'What?' Akito exclaimed.

'Oh,' Hiroki started then, mustering all the malice he was capable of, he said, 'my team's going to let me race this weekend.'

With that and before Akito had the time to regain his ability to produce any sounds, Hiroki and Hashimoto left him standing there, feeling such a wave of sheer terror that he didn't even notice that Ryoko had just come back from the shop.

_To be continued…_


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**Programmed Lives - Final Stage**

_Chapter Fourteen_

As he woke up on the day of the race, Akito saw through the window of the hotel's room that there was a rather heavy downpour and that the sky was a very ugly shade of dark grey meaning that the rain wasn't going to stop anytime soon.

'Kyosuke's not going to be happy,' Akito heard Ryoko's sleepy voice say from the other side of their bed.

'That's for sure,' Akito replied for he knew that because of these weather conditions all the settings of the cars would need to be changed, not to mention the fact that racing on a sopping wet tarmac wasn't exactly a walk in the park.

'Oh well,' Ryoko said as she got up, 'I better have a quick shower before we go to the circuit.'

'We could have one together,' Akito suggested looking at his girlfriend hopefully.

'Nope,' Ryoko said shaking her head, 'you've got to focus on the race.'

With that, she padded towards the room's small en-suit bathroom while Akito let himself drop back onto the pillows sighing quite heavily, getting even more depressed when his brain made him remember that in a few hours time he would be, once again, battling against Suetsugu Hiroki.

The only positive note in all of this was that Akito had managed to get his third pole of the season while Hiroki had only managed to place his car in fourth position, just behind Kojiro.

Half an hour later, Ryoko and Akito joined the rest of the team in the hotel's breakfast room and, just as they had predicted, the first thing they heard was Kyosuke complaining about the extra work he and Kizuna would have to do in order to get the cars ready for the race.

'Morning,' Akito said waving his hand at everyone.

'Morning son,' Takumi said seeing him there, 'can I have a quick word?'

'Sure,' Akito replied and exchanging a brief glance with Ryoko, the girl just walked towards the breakfast buffet to get some coffee while the nineteen year old followed his father to a quieter area of the room.

'What's up?' Akito asked.

'Listen,' Takumi said with his voice just above a whisper, 'I know that today's race is going to be very hard.'

'Hard?' Akito asked sounding quite sarcastic while thinking that 'hard' was the understatement of the century.

'I know that Hiroki's probably going to try to pull some dirty trick on you,' Takumi continued, clearly ignoring his son's remark, 'however, this is not a street race where we can all battle without any kind of rules: we are a professional racing team and we've got to be much better than that, okay?'

Akito looked at his father and nodding once slowly, he said:

'I get you.'

'Good,' Takumi said, 'now, get some breakfast, it's a lot colder today than it was yesterday.'

'I can't believe this country,' Akito commented as both father and son made their way back to the table where the rest of the team was, 'just yesterday the sun was shining and now.'

'C'est la France!' Kojiro exclaimed happily as he glanced at Isabelle, his French girlfriend, with an almost disgusting amount of adoration, 'ce temps est normal, n'est-ce pas?' he added, this time clearly speaking to her.

'Oui, c'est la fin d'avril,' the pretty and petite blonde girl replied looking at her boyfriend just as tenderly.

'What?' Akito asked not having understood a single word of the entire exchange.

'He's asked her if this weather is normal and she's said that it is since it's the end of April,' Ryoko replied glancing quickly at Kojiro and the eighteen year old nodded his confirmation.

'Okay,' Akito said, 'hey man, why don't you teach her some Japanese?' he then asked his team mate who just smiled at him before saying:

'I'm working on it.'

'Why don't you learn some French?' Takumi asked his son voicing the very question Ryoko was about to ask.

'Yeah, right, because we all know how good with languages I am,' Akito said with such a sarcastic tone of voice that it made everyone burst out laughing.

Soon after that, the whole Takawara Team made it to their boxes managing to get only slightly damp as they ran there from the circuit's car park.

'You two,' Fumihiro said to the two drivers, 'go and get changed, the warm up session will start soon.'

'Yes,' Kojiro said and he and Akito were walking towards the changing room when the nineteen year old realised he had left the bag carrying his racing shoes back in the van.

'Go ahead,' Akito said to Kojiro, 'I'll be back in a minute.'

Running again under the rain wasn't a pleasant thing for him but it was even worse when, after getting the small dark brown bag out of the team's van and as he was locking it up, he saw Hiroki walking somewhere nearby then, hoping that his ex-team mate wouldn't see him, Akito started running back to his team's box.

'Hey,' Akito heard Hiroki's hateful voice say and for the tinniest of moments, Akito considered ignoring him altogether, 'are you ready to lose?' Hiroki asked and that made Akito stop right where he was turning round ever so slowly.

'Just because you've won a race with us doesn't mean you can do it without us,' Akito said and that made Hiroki let out a mirthless chuckle.

'You'll be eating those words very soon,' the twenty year old said, 'I'm better than you are and you know it, that's why you're afraid of me.'

'What?' Akito exclaimed as he rushed to where Hiroki was, 'I'm not afraid of you!' he shouted.

'Yes you are,' Hiroki said keeping himself awfully calm, 'you got me kicked out of the team because you can't stand any kind of competition. Neither racing nor with anything else.'

Akito found himself trembling but not out of fear but out of sheer rage.

'You're pathetic,' Hiroki added, 'it truly is beyond me what Ryoko sees in…'

'Shut the fuck up!' Akito shouted furiously as he grabbed the front of Hiroki's wet raincoat then, realising that they were in the middle of the paddock where there were at least one hundred journalists and another hundred photographers, the nineteen year old forced himself to calm down as he released his ex-team mate.

'See?' Hiroki sneered, 'mark my words: I'm going to win today and you won't be able to do anything to prevent it.'

With that Akito saw as Hiroki walked away from him, remembering a tad too late that he was supposed to warn him about that Hoshino character.

'Screw him,' Akito whispered to himself as he rushed back to the box where everyone was waiting for him.

'Are you okay?' Ryoko asked him obviously noticing the anger in her boyfriend's expression.

'Yeah,' Akito replied, 'I better go and get ready,' he added realising that he had to get away from Ryoko since it would be impossible for him to fool her.

Five minutes before ten, Akito and Kojiro lowered themselves into their cars as Kyosuke and Kizuna started both of the single-seaters' engines and, just an instant after that, they rolled them out of the box and onto the pit lane to follow the row made up by the twenty four other cars.

'Alright Akito,' he heard Kyosuke's voice saying, 'we just need to test if the settings we've come up with are good enough so, just do five laps and come back to let us know what you think.'

'Got it,' Akito said and as he made his car increase its speed, he realised just how very bad the rain really was for even though he wasn't even pushing it, he still had a lot of trouble keeping all four tyres stuck onto the tarmac.

By the time the race director decided that the warm up session was over, the Takawara Team had more than managed to get both cars' settings up to their drivers' standards with Akito being particularly impressed with the amazing work Kyosuke had done on his car.

'It feels extremely stable,' he commented to his Chief Engineer.

'I'm glad it does,' Kyosuke said, 'just remember not to push it too much until the track dries out a bit…'

'If it ever does,' Akito countered looking outside the box at the still very dark clouds which covered the otherwise blue sky.

'If it does, it does, if it doesn't, it doesn't,' Takumi said, 'there's nothing we can do about it.'

'Great logic Dad,' Akito commented sarcastically and everyone laughed at the carefree way in which the older Fujiwara shrugged his shoulders.

At long last Akito got back into his car, this time to drive towards the first spot on the grid so he could go through his usual pre-race ritual.

'Be careful,' he heard Ryoko's voice through the radio.

'I will be,' he replied.

Then Akito watched his car's small rear view mirrors to see the other cars driving towards him and as the red Supernova stopped just a bit further back from where he was and with Kojiro placing the second of the Takawara Racing Team's cars immediately behind them.

With a scowl appearing on his face almost unconsciously, Akito observed as the bright orange car from the Kobita Racing came to a stop just after Kojiro's then, shaking his helmeted head, the nineteen year old vowed to himself that there was no way he would allow for Hiroki to come anywhere near the podium positions.

Taking a deep, calming breath, he waited with the rest of the racers till the grid was clear of people so they could start their formation lap.

A few minutes after that, the race started and Akito fought with the Supernova Team's car in order to keep ahead of him as they reached the first of the extremely sharp corners this circuit was famous for.

'Good,' he heard Keisuke say as Akito managed to hold onto his position, 'oh crap,' he then heard his Team Manager add and for a brief instant the nineteen year old felt extremely confused.

Then, looking at his steering wheel's inset screen, he saw that the race director had stopped the race because of a major crash somewhere near the corner Akito had just cleared.

'Shit,' Akito whispered as he slowed down, together with whoever was still in the race so they could all go back to their positions on the grid where an electronic scoreboard indicated that they would have to wait for another ten minutes before they could re-start the race then, letting out a frustrated sigh, Akito prepared himself for the characteristic adrenaline rush he felt every time he started a race when he had to push the car almost beyond its limits.

'Everything okay?' he heard Kenta ask him as the older man made it to Akito's car.

'Yeah,' Akito replied putting both of his thumbs up.

'Alright,' Kenta said.

Five minutes later, they all had to go through the pre-race proceedings once again and five more minutes after that, Akito started the formation lap for the second time that afternoon and when they finally re-started the race, as he did his best to block the Supernova, the nineteen year old prayed for all that was holy that no one would crash again so they wouldn't be forced to stop the race again.

By some sort of miracle he managed to hold on to his first place this time round too and, as soon as he could afford to do so, he checked the screen to try and figure out where Hiroki was.

'Still fourth,' he whispered as he silently thanked Kojiro for the admirable job he was doing at blocking Hiroki and, not being able to think of any other better way to repay him, Akito started accelerating making the car go as fast as he could given the very wet tarmac they had to race on.

Just as they were about to start their sixteenth lap, Kyosuke informed Akito that there had been yet another accident, this time at the Adelaide turn, well known for how very narrow it was.

'Great,' Akito muttered sarcastically but as he reached the turn in question he was very grateful of the warning his best friend had given him for he found that, in addition to the yellow flags, there was a significant amount of debris spread all over the track.

Suzuka.

Seeing all those bits of carbon fibre reminded Akito of Suzuka and of the horrendous accident he'd had there just thirteen months before when he'd driven over the broken wing of another car. That crash had cost him his race seat and had made him spend ten days in a coma.

Shaking his head slightly, trying to get rid of the highly disturbing memory, Akito made his car go as slowly as he possibly could comforted by the fact that the Supernova Team's car would not overtake him under the yellow flag regime.

Unfortunately, that fact combined with the low speed at which he was currently travelling kind of gave Akito a false sense of security which cost him dearly for, as he bypassed the two wrecked cars and when he was expecting it the least, he saw yet another piece of carbon fibre laying there right in the middle of the track.

'Shit!' Akito exclaimed as he veered sharply towards the right side of the short straight while trying his best not to make his car skid on the numerous puddles which seemed to be absolutely every-freaking-where on the track.

By the time he managed to get the car back onto it's most natural line, he noticed with a huge amount of displeasure that the Supernova had somehow managed to overtake him.

'Goddammit,' Akito swore.

'Are you alright?' he then heard his father ask him.

'No,' the nineteen year old replied.

'Don't worry about it,' Takumi said, 'we're going to call Kojiro in first because he's having some problems with his front tyres and we want you to get in the lap after that, okay?'

'Got it,' the nineteen year old barked angrily for he just couldn't believe the absurdly stupid way in which the Supernova had just passed him. First the heavy rain, then the re-start and now this, Akito thought miserably liking this race less and less as the time went by.

His negative feelings just got even worse as he realised that whenever Kojiro would enter the pit lane, Hiroki would have a free rein to go after him and having someone as freaking crazy as his ex-team mate after him was very bad news indeed.

'Fine,' he muttered as he fuelled up his determination to keep his distance from Hiroki as he went after the red Supernova, hoping to overtake the car and its Brazilian driver before Keisuke would call him in for his pit stop. Unfortunately for Akito the guy driving the red car was as good one would expect a countryman of the legendary Ayrton Senna to be and getting past him would be all but a piece of cake so, by the time his team ordered him to get into the pit lane, Akito was almost happy to see that he had at least managed to remain attached to the Supernova's rear wing.

He was also pleased to see that, because of the nearly suicidal way both of them had been driving, the Brazilian guy and Akito had build up enough of a gap between them and Hiroki so that they both could get into the pit lane, change their cars' tyres, refill and get back outside without losing the lead of the race.

Even better news was that the position of the Takawara Team's box would be, once more, a clear advantage for Akito and if his team played their cards right, the nineteen year old could pull yet again the same trick which had allowed him to win in Estoril.

As always, his team was way ahead of him and as Akito entered the pit lane, following the Supernova's car into it, he saw that Kyosuke and the rest of the crew had already considered that option for his pit stop was even faster than usual.

'GO!' Kenta shouted as soon as all the operations were completed.

Akito didn't make him say that twice and as he cruised down the pit stop he had the satisfaction of seeing the Supernova's reflection on his rear view mirrors then, as he looked ahead of him, he saw something which made his stomach fold onto itself:

Right in front of him he saw a dark blue car belonging to some German team with its engine clearly stalled, blocking the pit lane's exit.

'What the…' Akito said as he saw himself forced to steer towards the box-side of the lane, driving over the place where the mechanics usually stood as he tried to make it past the dark blue single-seater so he could get back onto the track.

That only made Akito lose less than three seconds but that lapse of time was more than enough to see Hiroki's much faster car overtaking him as he covered the last meters of the pit lane's exit.

'Crap!' Akito shouted feeling so immensely frustrated that, ignoring whatever his father was trying to tell him, the nineteen year old floored the accelerator as he made a desperate attempt at trying to catch up with his ex-team mate.

Sadly, he also failed to notice that his current one was driving immediately behind Hiroki and everyone held their breath as they all saw the two white, black and yellow cars from the Takawara Racing Team on the verge of colliding, with Kojiro somehow managing to keep his car on the track while Akito lost control of his, sending it spinning wildly onto the drenched grass which covered that sector of the circuit.

By the time his car was stopped by the track's outer barrier he realised two things: he was out of the race and he had almost broken his promise to Kojiro.

And what was even worse, Hiroki was leading the race.

_To be continued…_


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Fifteen_

There had been only one time when Akito had felt as reluctant of getting out of his car as he was now and that time had been that night when he'd crashed his father's AE86, four and a half years ago.

'Hey, are you alright?' he heard one of the French track marshals ask him.

'Yeah,' Akito lied as he realised that, just like that time, he really couldn't stay inside the single-seater forever so, putting together whatever strength he had left, he used it to push himself out of the cockpit stepping out of his car while feeling a rush of shame invading every cell of his body.

He then forced himself to glance across the circuit towards the nearby pit lane and, for a very brief instant, he seriously considered running away from them, only to realise that that option was ever bit as unrealistic as it would have been to remain strapped inside his car.

'We'll have someone to come and drive you back to the boxes,' the same French marshal said as Akito was shown the way out of the track and into the service road which ran alongside it.

'I can walk there,' Akito said in what he hoped was decent enough English.

'Are you sure?' the marshal asked.

'Yeah,' Akito replied and with that he finally took his helmet off before he started walking the reasonably short distance which separated him from the boxes, feeling very grateful that most of his journey was made using the underground tunnel which connected the outer side of the circuit with the inside of it.

By the time Akito reached his team's garage he saw that his father was already waiting for him with his hands grasping both of his hip's sides.

'What on earth did you just do?' Takumi asked using the cold tone of voice Akito knew his father used when he was extremely pissed off.

'I'm so…'

'Don't even dare saying you're sorry,' his father interrupted him, 'why didn't you slow down when I warned you that Kojiro was just behind you?'

Ah, that's what his father had been shouting at him, Akito thought miserably.

'I don't know,' Akito muttered.

'Takumi,' Keisuke said, joining in the conversation and, as the nineteen year old braced himself for the worst, he heard his team manager say, 'leave him alone.'

'What?' Takumi exclaimed sounding as shocked as Akito looked.

'Kojiro will take care of him,' Keisuke added and, thinking of how very pissed off Kojiro had every right of being, Akito almost wished it was either his father or Keisuke who would tell him off for he simply couldn't believe how very badly he'd screwed up who what he believed was the nicest and friendliest team mate he'd ever had.

'Alright,' Akito managed to hear Takumi say, 'go and get changed then.'

'Yes,' Akito said.

'Akito…' he heard Kyosuke say as the younger man walked through the team's box.

'Not now please,' Akito begged him and before the older of his two best friends could continue, the nineteen year old just walked out of the garage.

'I'll go and talk to him,' Ryoko offered.

'Good luck with that,' Kizuna said frowning worriedly before going to pay attention to the screen where she was still following the evolutions of the other of the Takawara Racing Team's cars.

By the time Ryoko reached the team's motorhome she saw that Akito was sitting on the small couch with his helmet having been carelessly discarded on the floor and his hands covering his face while his elbows were firmly planted onto his knees.

'Can I?' she whispered from the entrance.

Akito shook his head without taking his hands off his face.

'Alright,' Ryoko said as she stepped into the motorhome nonetheless.

'Ryoko,' Akito began to protest finally removing his hands so he could look at his girlfriend.

'Akito,' the girl countered as she sat next to him on the couch staring at him right in the eye, 'I'm not going to tell you what I think about what has just happened.'

'Then what are you doing here?' he asked her using such a harsh tone of voice that Ryoko flinched visibly.

'I'm just here in case you need some support,' she said doing her best to keep the hurt out of her voice, 'because, in case you've forgotten, I'm on your side.'

'Ryoko…'

'Look,' she continued, 'I'm not going to judge anything of what you've done because I'm sure you've got your reasons to behave like you did but, I'd like to tell you that I think Hiroki's just playing with you and that you're letting him do it.'

'Ryoko I just…'

'I know,' she said putting her hands over his, 'I know how he makes you feel Akito but you and I both know you're better than that.'

'I…'

'Akito,' Ryoko said, 'just promise to me that you're going to think about what's happened today.'

Akito looked at her beautiful face for an instant before nodding once.

'Good,' Ryoko said then, finally allowing herself to look as worried as she was, she added, 'now, you didn't hurt yourself anywhere, did you?'

'No,' Akito replied offering her a tiny smile, 'I'm okay.'

Ryoko then let out a very heavy but relieved sigh as she hugged him to her very tightly.

'Thank God for that!' she exclaimed as she did so.

A few minutes later the race was over and, as Akito had half feared half expected, Hiroki crossed the finish line in first position with Kojiro tailing him just one second behind then, and with Akito back into his normal every day clothes, he and Ryoko waited for Kojiro to get out of his car as Akito readied himself to deal with whatever negative reaction his team mate would have seeing him there.

'Are you okay?' Kojiro asked instead, shocking him and the whole team in the process.

'Y-yeah,' Akito stuttered.

'Gosh, when I saw you spinning I thought you'd…' he started then, interrupting himself, he shook his head briefly before adding, 'oh well, you're fine, that's all it matters.'

'But…'

'I'd have to ask you though to please use your rear view mirrors when getting out of the pit lane,' Kojiro then said with his usual friendly tone of voice, 'you kind of freaked me out back there…'

'Er…'

'But don't worry about it too much, okay?' Kojiro said.

'Kojiro, I…'

'You know what?' the eighteen year old asked interrupting him, 'I'm very happy: it's only my second GP2 race and I'm already on the podium!'

Akito couldn't help but to smile at him while feeling very lucky that his team mate had such an easygoing personality so, once again, he tried to apologise:

'Kojiro, I'm very sorry about…'

The nineteen year old stopped talking seeing that his team mate was already running towards his girlfriend, both looking at each other as though as they had just won the lottery.

'Cherie!' Akito heard Isabelle scream as she literally jumped onto an open armed Kojiro.

The intense hugging and kissing session which followed made Akito and Ryoko feel rather uncomfortable and, for this reason, they chose to walk back into the team's box.

A few minutes later Akito, and the rest of his team, had the immense displeasure of seeing a very smug looking Hiroki stepping onto the top of the podium while a still smiling Kojiro and the dark skinned Brazilian guy stood at either side of him.

As soon as the trophy ceremony was over, Akito walked down the pit lane towards his ex-team mate and, with an obviously fake smile on his face, he said:

'You were right: you've won this race.'

'Just like I told you,' Hiroki sneered.

'Don't get used to it,' Akito then added darkly.

'Ah no?' Hiroki asked, 'and why is that?' he added amusedly.

'Up to now I've been playing your game,' Akito replied, 'from now on, we're going to be playing mine.'

After that he walked away from Hiroki and back to his team's box feeling extraordinarily pleased to see the slightly distressed look on his former team mate's face.

Two days later, Kyosuke knocked onto the door of the apartment Misa and Seisuke shared for he and Kizuna had been invited to have dinner with them.

'Come on in,' Seisuke said opening the door for them, 'Misa is busy in the kitchen.'

'I see,' Kyosuke said as he repressed a chuckle for it was quite weird for him to see his younger brother in full househusband mode.

'So, Aniki,' Seisuke said as they made their way into the apartment's small living room, 'what was that huge announcement you had for me? Kizuna's not pregnant, is she?'

'Shut up!' Kizuna exclaimed punching Seisuke on his upper arm.

'Ouch,' he complained rubbing it, 'that hurt!'

'Quit being stupid then,' Kizuna countered as she and Kyosuke took a seat on the dark brown couch which was placed against the wall.

'So, if Kizuna's not pregnant what is it?' Seisuke asked sitting down on the leather chair he used to have in his room which had now been brought into Misa's apartment.

'I've accepted the Kanto Kaisers' challenge,' Kyosuke said.

'Really?' Seisuke exclaimed happily, 'about bloody time! I've been dying for a race!'

'I know,' Kyosuke said, 'it's been quite a while since we had a good battle.'

'When is it going to be?' Seisuke asked.

'We're thinking of next weekend,' Kizuna replied.

'Great!' Seisuke said, 'I can't wait!'

Then, seeing the two Takahashi brothers immersing themselves in an in-depth discussion about the tactics they should adopt when racing such a highly experienced team, Kizuna decided it was due time she went to speak to the lady of the house.

'This smells nice,' the twenty four year old woman commented stepping into the even smaller kitchen the apartment came equipped with.

'Thanks,' Misa said, 'I hope you like Indian food.'

'I do,' Kizuna confirmed as she started playing with her brand new ring.

'Oh,' Misa said, 'you finally got it!'

'Yeah,' Kizuna replied looking at her left hand where she sported a platinum band studded with eleven square shaped diamonds, 'it has taken us ages to find something I could wear even when I'm at work.'

'It's beautiful!' Misa exclaimed taking a closer look at it.

'It is,' Kizuna confirmed, 'I know it's not the typical solitaire but I like it and, let's face it, at least I don't have to wear that humongous rock that is the Takahashi family's engagement ring.'

'The what?' Misa asked.

'Oh,' Kizuna replied, 'apparently, Kyosuke was supposed to inherit the ring his father gave to his mother when they got engaged, it's been in the family for quite a few generations and he told me that the size of the diamond is big enough to cover the whole phalange.'

'Oh gosh,' Misa said making a disgusted scowl, 'that kind of reminds me of the stupidly big ring my father gave to my step-mother when he asked her to marry him. It's an extremely tacky ring.'

'Like I said, I'm very lucky Akiko-san didn't insist on me wearing it. Yet again, she also told me that she's never worn it herself either.'

'So, when is the big day? Have you guys set the date?'

'Yes, it's going to be the weekend after the end of the GP2 season,' Kizuna said, 'so I'm going to need loads of help with the organisation.'

'Count on me for anything you need,' the girl said.

'Oh I will,' Kizuna replied, 'to begin with, I'd like you to be my bridesmaid.'

'What?' Misa exclaimed, 'me? What about Ryoko?'

'Kyosuke's going to get his brother to be his best man so I think it makes more sense if you are my bridesmaid.'

'Yeah, I can see that.'

'Then?'

'Alright,' Misa said, 'I'll be honoured to be your bridesmaid.'

'Hey girls,' they then heard Seisuke's voice coming from the living room, 'is dinner ready?' he added sounding a tad on the desperate side.

'Let's hurry up,' Misa said, 'you don't want Seisuke to get too hungry!'

Kizuna just laughed at that for she knew that Kyosuke wasn't much better than his younger brother when coping with an empty stomach so, ten minutes later, the four of them sat at the table enjoying the curry Misa had prepared for them.

'It's lovely,' Kizuna commented.

'It is,' Kyosuke confirmed then, looking at his younger brother, he added, 'you're one lucky man.'

'I know,' Seisuke said.

'Oi!' Kizuna complained.

'I'm lucky too,' Kyosuke hurried to add, knowing better than to piss his future wife off.

'So, where are Akito and Ryoko?' Misa asked all of a sudden.

'They've gone to Tokyo with Kojiro and Isabelle,' Kyosuke replied, 'it's the first time Isabelle visits Japan so they're showing her the sights.'

'That's really sweet of them,' Misa said.

'I'm kind of worried though,' Seisuke added frowning slightly, 'I know that Kojiro's closer to Akito's own age than we are but…'

'Hey,' Kyosuke started, 'Akito's our best friend, he's always been and always will be.'

'I know it's just that...'

'Like you said,' Kizuna interrupted him, 'Kojiro's closer to Akito in terms of age and he is his team mate too so I think it's normal that they bond.'

'He didn't exactly bond with Hiroki now, did he?' Seisuke countered.

'No, that's true,' Kizuna admitted, 'but again, Hiroki's a bit of a special case.'

'I don't think anyone can really bond with him,' Kyosuke added supporting his fiancée's theory.

'Hey,' Misa protested, 'that's not true. He's a really nice person.'

'Yeah, right,' Seisuke said with a very sceptical tone of voice.

'It's just that you guys don't know him,' Misa insisted.

'We don't WANT to know him,' Seisuke corrected her, 'the guy's a gigantic bastard: don't you remember when he wrecked Akito's car during one of his last testing sessions with the team?'

'And the way he's been provoking Akito during the whole of this past weekend,' Kyosuke added.

'Let's not forget about what he's done to Ryoko,' Kizuna started.

'Hey,' Misa exclaimed almost angrily, 'I know he's not the best person…'

Seisuke's loud snort made her interrupt herself as she looked at her boyfriend with a very upset expression on her face.

'Stop it!' Misa exclaimed, 'I want you to stop talking like this about him.'

'I thought we were clear on this, Misa,' Seisuke said getting rather angry too, making Kyosuke and Kizuna feel quite out of place in the process.

'What are you talking about?' Misa asked raising her voice a notch.

'Don't tell me what to do,' Seisuke replied icily, 'you know I can't stand it.'

'Stop insulting my friend and…'

'Your friend?' Seisuke finally exploded slamming his hand against the wooden table, 'your friend has caused nothing but trouble to us!'

'Guys…' Kyosuke said seeing that the situation was slowly getting out of hand.

'It's not his fault he fell in love with her!' Misa shouted back, clearly ignoring Seisuke's older brother.

'Oh poor Hiroki,' Seisuke sneered sarcastically, 'should we make him a saint or what? I can almost see it: St Hiroki The Bastard…'

'Hey, come on…' Kizuna intervened but she too got ignored by the arguing couple.

'STOP INSULTING MY FRIEND!' Misa cried.

'STOP TELLING ME WHAT TO DO!' Seisuke roared getting up from his chair so suddenly that he made it topple over.

'THIS IS MY HOUSE AND I'LL DO WHAT I WANT!' Misa yelled getting up too.

The surreal silence which followed this sentence made her realise the horrendous thing she had just said and the young woman was about to open her mouth to apologise to Seisuke when the twenty three year old started stepping away from the table.

'Seisu…'

The hard and cold way in which Seisuke looked at her, killed any kind of sound she may have been able to produce then, Kyosuke, Kizuna and Misa herself observed as the younger of the two Takahashi brothers rushed to the front door, slamming it shut as he got out of the apartment.

'What have I done?' Misa whispered miserably as she collapsed back onto her chair.

Kyosuke and Kizuna exchanged a brief but worry laden look trying to decide what to do next.

_To be continued…_


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Sixteen_

Using the high level of mutual understanding that had characterised their relationship ever since they had started dating, it took Kyosuke and Kizuna less than a second to decide what they had to do so, while Kyosuke went after his younger brother, Kizuna stayed behind so she could do her best to calm a very distressed Misa down.

'I can't believe I said that to him,' she sobbed.

'Misa,' Kizuna said, 'we all know you didn't mean it.'

'You don't understand,' Misa interrupted her looking at the slightly older girl through a curtain of tears, 'when Seisuke and I decided for him to move in with me, he was very worried that since this was my house he would always be like a guest. I promised to him that I would never make him feel as such and I assured him that this was his house as much as it was mine.'

Kizuna didn't really know what to say so she just chose to remain quiet while she silently prayed that her fiancé would do a much better job at trying to convince Seisuke to come back.

Unfortunately for the older of the two Takahashi brothers, by the time he reached his yellow RZ-1, Seisuke's white version of it was nowhere near to be seen. Thinking hard as he fastened his seatbelt Kyosuke decided that, given his younger brother's current state, there was only one place where he was absolutely sure he would find him: Akagi's mountain pass.

Surely enough and as he drove all the distance from Tochigi to Mt Akagi in a record time, Kyosuke saw the white RZ-1 parked at the car park which was near the pass's base while Seisuke sat on a nearby guardrail smoking a cigarette.

'Hey,' Kyosuke started, climbing out of his Mazda, 'you know, you're as predictable as the weather in Okinawa.'

'What?' Seisuke asked sounding rather confused.

'It's almost always sunny there, isn't it?' Kyosuke replied as he sat down next to Seisuke who went from looking puzzled to shake his head as he smiled at his older brother.

'Aniki,' he said, 'if you're not careful I'm going to start thinking that you've got a sense of humour.'

'I have a sense of humour,' Kyosuke replied, sounding very sure of himself.

'Yeah, sure you do,' Seisuke said using such a sceptic tone of voice that it made Kyosuke frown.

'Hey,' he protested, 'I can be funny if…'

'No you can't,' Seisuke said shaking his head even more energetically. Kyosuke was going to complain when he suddenly remembered the reason why they were there.

'Seisuke,' he started, 'I…'

'Aniki, I really don't want to talk about this,' Seisuke said putting out his cigarette by pressing it against the guardrail.

'Just listen up, okay?' Kyosuke asked then, seeing that he had his younger brother's attention, he continued, 'I'm not going to tell you what to do because I think you're old enough to know what you're doing.'

'Aniki,' Seisuke interrupted him, 'I knew that sooner or later Misa would end up saying that that apartment was hers. Hell, it IS her apartment.'

'She didn't mean to say that and you know it,' Kyosuke said.

'Maybe,' Seisuke conceded, 'but the truth of the matter is that now that she's said it I can't go back there.'

'Don't you think you're exaggerating a little?' Kyosuke asked.

'No,' Seisuke replied, 'it's a question of pride and, besides, that's not the only problem we have.'

'If you're talking about Hiroki…'

Seisuke let out a loud grunt of protest.

'You know what,' he said, 'I'm beginning to understand Akito.'

'What do you mean?' Kyosuke asked.

'The government should mark Hiroki as a threat to national security,' Seisuke replied, 'he manages to cause huge amounts of trouble even when he's not around.'

'That's true,' Kyosuke agreed.

'I really don't know what to do,' Seisuke said sounding every bit as desperate as he felt.

'I've got an idea,' Kyosuke announced, 'why don't you sleep on it?'

'Where?' Seisuke asked, 'I don't have anywhere to go.'

'That's not true,' Kyosuke said, 'you can come home with me.'

'Aniki, I can't…'

'Why not?' Kyosuke asked.

'Because…'

'Hey,' Kyosuke said, 'remember what Mum and Dad said: even when we'll be both living our own lives, their house will always be our home.'

'Yes, but…'

'We don't need to tell them about your argument with Misa,' Kyosuke insisted, 'we can just tell them that we needed to discuss something related to our street racing team and that I've asked you to come over.'

'Aniki, that'd be lying, wouldn't it?'

'Not really,' Kyosuke said, 'after all, we could do with a good chat, couldn't we?'

Seisuke looked at his brother before laughing softly.

'Admit it Aniki: you kind of miss me.'

'I do,' Kyosuke replied sounding so serious that it startled Seisuke.

'Really?'

'Yeah,' Kyosuke said, 'I know it's been only three weeks or so but…'

'Aniki, I think this whole wedding thing has turned you into a softy,' Seisuke teased his brother, hoping his sarcasm would mask how very emotional Kyosuke's sudden confession had made him feel.

'Me, a softy?' the older brother asked raising his eyebrows in disbelief, 'hey, if it wasn't because we decided never to do so again, I'd challenge you to a race right here and now.'

'Then I'm lucky we made that agreement,' Seisuke said with a cheeky grin on his face.

'Let's just go home,' Kyosuke proposed and, without waiting for his younger brother's answer, he just got up and pressed the button on his car key to unlock the doors noting with satisfaction that his younger brother was actually obeying him.

Then, as the two of them drove back to Maebashi, Kyosuke called his fiancée:

'How's Misa?' he asked Kizuna.

'She's still very upset,' she whispered, 'I managed to convince her to lie down for a bit but she's in a bad place right now.'

'I see,' he said, 'listen, Seisuke and I are going to go home since I don't think it's a good idea if they talk to each other tonight.'

'I agree.'

'Do you mind staying with Misa until the morning?' Kyosuke asked.

'Of course not,' Kizuna replied, 'but hey, it's not like I have a choice anyway, since someone I know insisted that I had to leave my baby home.'

'Kizuna…'

'Just kidding,' she said and he could tell that she was smiling then, sounding serious again, she added, 'let's make sure these two sort their issues out, okay?'

'I'll do my best,' Kyosuke promised.

'Good,' Kizuna said, 'because now that we're very much back together I would hate it if Misa and your brother broke up.'

'Me too,' Kyosuke agreed, 'I'll see you in the morning,' he added.

'Good night,' Kizuna said.

When he and Seisuke finally made it home, the two brothers saw that their parents were sitting in the house's common living room, apparently in the middle of a conversation. Kyosuke noticed that Uncle Keisuke and Aunt Kyoko weren't there, probably still at the centre, he thought.

'Seisuke, what are you doing home?' Akiko asked looking surprised to see her younger son there.

'We need to talk about a gathering,' Kyosuke replied instead.

'Who are you racing against this time?' Ryosuke asked to both of his sons, sounding as curious as every time anyone talked about street racing.

'A team called the Kanto Kaisers,' Kyosuke replied.

'The Kanto Kaisers?' Akiko asked incredulously.

'It's a really silly name, isn't it?' Seisuke asked.

'Yes it is,' Ryosuke replied, 'in our days…'

'…you had a lot more imagination,' both brothers said at the same time making their father chuckle while their mother just smiled tenderly as she observed the three most important men in her life.

'Have you eaten anything?' she asked looking at Seisuke making him remember the half eaten plate of curry he'd left in Misa's apartment and about the reason why he'd never quite finished it.

'Are you okay son?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Yeah,' was Seisuke's a tad too fast reply.

'Alright,' Ryosuke said and judging by the sceptical expression on his still handsome face both brothers knew that Seisuke had not managed to fool their father at all.

'We'd better go,' Kyosuke hurried to say, 'we've got loads to discuss.'

With that, he grabbed Seisuke by his arm and started dragging him out of the room making a mental note to tell his younger brother off for being so careless in front of their legendarily smart father.

The morning after and having slept for only a couple of hours, Seisuke walked into the house's kitchen to find that his father was there having a cup of coffee while reading the newspaper.

'Good morning, son,' Ryosuke said.

'Morning Dad,' he replied as he got a mug out of the cupboard.

'Is your brother still sleeping?' his father asked setting his newspaper aside.

'I'm not sure,' Seisuke replied.

'Never mind that,' Ryosuke said, 'I need to speak to you.'

'What about?' Seisuke asked even though he knew very well that it was quite likely that his father had already figured out what was wrong with the younger of his two sons.

'You and the fact that you spent the night here and not with Misa,' he answered, being as sharp as ever.

'Dad, I…'

'You had an argument with her,' his father finally said in what was more a statement than a question.

'Yeah,' Seisuke admitted.

'Do you want to talk to me about it?'

Seisuke looked at his father for a short while before nodding a couple of times very slowly. Then, leaving the still empty mug on one of the kitchen's worktops, he started telling his father about everything he and Misa had argued about.

'I see,' Ryosuke said frowning in the way he did when he was deep in thought.

'Dad…'

'Listen son,' Ryosuke interrupted him, 'you know that if things with Misa don't quite work out, you can move back in here whenever you want. However, in my opinion, your problems with your girlfriend can easily be solved.'

'How?' Seisuke asked him.

'Well, to begin with, would you feel better if you bought from Misa half of her apartment?'

'Dad, I barely make enough money with my residency to pay for the car's expenses and for my share of the bills.'

'Your mother and I could give you a loan,' Ryosuke said.

'Thanks Dad but I…'

'And you could give it back to us whenever you start getting paid a decent enough salary,' Ryosuke continued.

'Dad, I appreciate this but…'

'I think it's an excellent idea,' Kyosuke said entering the kitchen and having obviously heard everything.

'Aniki…'

'Son,' Ryosuke said, 'your biggest issue with Misa is the fact that you're living in her apartment, isn't it? If you bought half of it from her, then you would have as much claim on it as she does.'

'Exactly,' Kyosuke agreed.

'I don't know,' Seisuke said, 'besides, it's useless talking about this: Misa's never going to sell half of her house to me.'

'You don't know that,' Kyosuke pointed out.

'From what little I know of your girlfriend,' Ryosuke said, 'I think she's a pretty smart girl and I also believe that she loves you enough for her to be willing to reach some sort of agreement.'

'It's just that…'

'Regarding the other two issues,' Ryosuke said, as usual one step ahead of everyone else, 'it simply isn't fair of you to ask her to stop being friends with someone she knew long before she even met you, regardless of who this person is,' Ryosuke added seeing his son opening his mouth to protest, 'and about your reluctance of taking orders from her, well…'

'It's part of the whole marriage game,' Kyosuke added, 'isn't it Dad?'

'Precisely,' Ryosuke replied, 'take your mother for instance: even when I don't ask for it, she always tells me her opinion regarding a number of things and it is then up to me to decide whether I agree with her or not.'

'Yes but, she never gives any direct orders to you, does she?'

'Of course not,' Ryosuke replied, 'she's much too smart to do that but, do I really need to remind you of how forceful your mother can sometimes be?'

'No, you don't,' Seisuke replied.

'I thought not,' Ryosuke said, 'now, go and call Misa: tell her about your conditions and listen to hers. Then it's up to you to decide what you want to do.'

Seisuke looked at him for a short while before nodding then, as he left the kitchen so he could use one of the house's phones, Kyosuke smiled at his father and said:

'Excellent job, Dad.'

'Of course,' Ryosuke replied with nonchalance as he picked his newspaper up so he could continue reading it and that made Kyosuke to smile even more.

Meanwhile, as he sat by himself in the living room, Seisuke finished the speech he had started the second his girlfriend had answered the phone.

'Seisuke, that really isn't necessary,' Misa said.

'Is either that or I'll move back to my parents' house,' he insisted.

'Seisuke…'

'I'm serious Misa,' he said, 'you knew how I felt about moving in with you in that apartment of yours. If you don't want to sell half of it to me then I'll stay here until we can afford to buy a house together.'

'Would you want to do that?' she asked sounding so incredulous that Seisuke felt quite hurt by her apparent lack of trust in him.

'Of course I would,' he said, 'wouldn't you?'

'But, I…I thought we…you know…'

'Did you think I would leave you just like that?' he asked.

'Well…I…'

'Misa, I was very upset last night,' Seisuke admitted, 'and you know what I'm like when I'm upset but I wouldn't break up with you because of Hiroki. Hell, I would hate giving that bastard the satisfaction of…'

'Seisuke, please…'

'Alright,' he conceded and, making a visible effort, he said, 'I wouldn't give that person the satisfaction of knowing that he was the cause of our split. He's already caused enough trouble to my family as it is.'

'Seisuke…'

'Look, I know he's your friend and I'll work on accepting that fact as part of who you are, okay?'

'You'd do that for me?' Misa asked.

'Of course I would Misa,' Seisuke said, 'I love you, remember?'

'Seisuke…'

'So, should I come to pick my comfy chair up or should I leave it where it is now?' he asked allowing himself to sound a bit hopeful.

'I think you should leave it here,' Misa replied with a slightly trembling voice, 'it misses you by the way, and so do I.'

Seisuke closed his eyes as he let out a sigh of relief, then opening them again, he said:

'If we reach an agreement you both can have me back by tonight.'

'It's a lot of money, Seisuke.'

'I've already told you that my parents are going to give me a loan.'

'But…'

'Misa, do you want me to stay here?' Seisuke asked.

'No!' Misa exclaimed.

'Then?' he insisted.

'Okay, you win,' Misa finally surrendered, 'I'll talk to my father and I'll get him to draft up the documents.'

'Great,' Seisuke said, 'I'll talk to mine so I can get the money.'

With that, he closed the conversation not before agreeing to meet over lunch so they could complete the transaction which would see Seisuke become the co-owner of Misa's apartment.

A few days after that and with the aim of preparing themselves for upcoming challenge against the Kanto Kaisers, the Golden Arrows invited some of the guys from the other street racing teams of the Kanto region in what was supposed to be a friendly meeting.

Among them, there were some guys from Saitama, Atsuko and Ichiro from the Hakone Maniacs, Jiro and Misa from the Tochigi Thunders and Nakazato Taro as the sole representative of the Myogi Devils.

'Uh-oh,' Kizuna said seeing a very familiar looking Mitsubishi driving into Mt Akagi's car park.

'Who told Hiroki about this gathering?' Seisuke asked looking at Kosugi accusingly.

'I did,' the Tochigi Thunder's leader admitted, 'but I didn't think he'd be stupid enough to come here…'

'I know of someone who's not going to be too happy about this,' Kyosuke said as they all looked at Akito who was currently busy talking to Kojiro.

The furious expression they all saw on Akito's face as the nineteen year old finally noticed the orange Eclipse GT made Kyosuke think that he'd just made the understatement of the century.

_To be continued…_


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Seventeen_

A positively fuming Akito stood there, arms crossed on his chest, glaring at the orange Mitsubishi as he waited for its driver to get out of it. Then, very slowly, the Eclipse GT's door opened and Hiroki finally climbed out of his car.

'What in the heck are you doing here?' Akito hissed furiously.

'Easy there,' Hiroki started, 'I've just come to challenge you to…'

The twenty year old interrupted himself as he saw something somewhere past Akito which made him smile in a very evil way:

'Now, this is a surprise. I came here to challenge this loser and I find you instead.'

'What are you talking about?' Akito never got a reply to that question and following Hiroki's gaze he saw to whom his ex-team mate was looking at, 'wait a minute, you can't…'

'Do you think you are brave enough to race against me?' Hiroki asked to Kojiro using such a provoking tone of voice that everyone expected the younger guy to respond accordingly. Instead, the eighteen year old seemed to be the perfect picture of calmness.

'Hiroki…' Jiro started but then, and stunning everyone else in the process, Kojiro nodded and said:

'Alright, I'll race you.'

Akito felt his eyes widen in shock before he grabbed his team mate by his arm.

'Come with me one minute.'

He only let go of Kojiro's arm when he was absolutely sure that they were out of Hiroki's hearing range.

'Kojiro,' Akito started, 'you really don't have to race him.'

'I know I don't have to,' Kojiro said, 'but I'd like to, if that's okay with you guys, of course.'

'It's not a question of it being okay with us,' Akito explained, 'it's just that you haven't got any experience...'

'I do,' Kojiro said interrupting him, 'using my grandfather's car I've driven on every one of the main mountain passes in this prefecture and, whereas Mt Akagi is nowhere near as much fun as Mt Usui is, it still is a great pass.'

'When on earth do you do that?' Akito asked him unable to believe his ears.

'Whenever I'm not busy with the team,' Kojiro replied, 'without Isabelle here I have nothing but time in my hands.'

'I see,' Akito said then, something else occurred to him, 'Kojiro, you don't even have a car.'

'Crap, that's true,' Kojiro conceded frowning slightly.

'Like I said, you don't have to accept his challenge,' Akito said, 'it's not like I want you to race that bastard anyway.'

'Er…Akito…'

'What is it?' Akito asked.

'I know you'll probably say no but I have to try,' Kojiro said, 'would you let me borrow yours?'

'What?' Akito exclaimed incredulously.

'I understand if you don't…'

'You're asking me to lend you my car?'

'Yes, please,' Kojiro replied looking so hopeful that it made Akito smile, 'I would really like to test a few of the manoeuvres I've learned while I practiced here.'

Akito looked at his team mate for a short while before he said:

'Look, it's not like I don't trust you, it's just that you've never driven my V-86 before.'

'I could take a few runs before the race, if that's allowed,' Kojiro suggested.

'I guess it'd be alright if you asked for a few practice runs but…'

'Okay, I get it,' Kojiro said, 'it was just an idea,' he added and as he made it to start walking back to where the group was, Akito asked:

'Do you think you can beat him?'

'I don't know,' Kojiro replied shrugging his shoulders, 'but I'd like to try nonetheless.'

Once again the nineteen year old stared at his newest friend and realising how very serious Kojiro was about it all, he finally decided to give in:

'Okay, I'll let you drive my car' Akito said.

'Really?' Kojiro asked and, once again, he was the wide-eyed teenager Akito had come to like quite a lot.

'Yeah, but be very careful when racing Hiroki, he's totally nuts and will not follow any of our unwritten rules…'

'What do you mean?' Kojiro asked.

'He may very well try to crash against you if you piss him off badly enough,' Akito explained.

'Just like at the circuit then,' Kojiro commented.

'Nah,' Akito said, 'worse: at least at the circuit he needs to obey the regulations or he gets disqualified.'

'Okay, I think I get the picture,' Kojiro said, 'this looks like it's going to be loads of fun,' he added with a smile.

'If you race in the mountain passes as well as you do on the track, it will be loads of fun for me,' Akito said grinning at his team mate.

As both teenagers made it back to where the rest of the guys were, Hiroki looked as though as he was tired of waiting for them:

'So, has your boss given you permission to race?' the twenty year old asked to Kojiro with a very nasty smirk on his face.

'Yeah,' Kojiro replied then, obviously refusing to take offence, he added, 'Akito's such a great boss that he's even letting me drive his car.'

With that, he turned round to start walking towards the V-86 as Akito, the rest of the Golden Arrows and quite a few of the other racers started laughing, some louder than others. They laughed even harder when they saw a very angry looking Hiroki walking back to his car, climbing into it and locking himself inside.

'You're really letting him race with your car?' Seisuke asked Akito as soon as he calmed down.

'Yes,' the nineteen year old replied with a shrug then, turning to Kosugi he added, 'Kojiro's driven a few times on this pass before but since he's never driven my car I think we should let him get some practice runs. Is that okay with you?'

'Of course,' Kosugi replied looking very uneasy, 'it's not like this is an official race anyway.'

'Good,' Akito said, 'Kyosuke, do you have anything to object?'

'No,' the Golden Arrows leader replied, 'if Kojiro's willing to do this, I'm cool with it.'

'Great,' Akito said then both he and Ryoko walked to where the V-86 was parked so that Akito could give his car's keys to Kojiro.

'Hey, I'm really grateful for this,' the eighteen year old said as he climbed into the V-86's driver seat.

'Don't mention it,' Akito said fighting to keep a serene front, even though he was actually very nervous about seeing someone else racing with his beloved car. Kojiro seemed to notice that for he looked at Akito and, using his most reassuring tone of voice, he said:

'Hey, I'll be extremely careful, I promise.'

'Yeah, alright,' Akito said then, he and Ryoko observed as Kojiro closed the V-86's door, started its engine and, leaving its very worried owner behind, they saw him driving out of the car park and onto the adjacent road for the first of his runs.

'It'll be fine,' Ryoko said squeezing her boyfriend's hand.

'I know...'

'He's a really good driver, isn't he?' Ryoko insisted.

'He is,' Akito replied, 'it's just that…'

'…it's your baby and you don't like anyone to go anywhere near its steering wheel,' Ryoko finished for him putting her free hand on Akito's cheek, 'you must trust Kojiro a lot.'

'I do,' Akito said firmly enough for Ryoko to believe him.

'Then everything will be okay,' she said and, after giving him a quick peck on his lips, she added, 'let's go back with the others, okay?'

'Yeah,' Akito replied as he forced himself to calm down.

During the hour or so Kojiro used to do his runs, Akito told his two best friends about his conversation with his team mate and both Kyosuke and Seisuke agreed when they said that if Kojiro was confident he could race Hiroki then they had to trust him and, for some reason, hearing that made Akito feel slightly better about the whole thing.

At long last, they saw the V-86 coming back from what was Kojiro's sixth run in a row.

'Okay, I think I've got the hang of it,' the eighteen year old said climbing out of Akito's car, 'your car's really something,' he added making Akito smile proudly as he stared at the panda coloured Toyota.

'So, are you going to be ready anytime soon?' Hiroki asked looking visibly impatient.

'Yes, sorry to keep you waiting,' Kojiro said calmly, 'I'm ready whenever you are.'

'You seem to be rather eager to be beaten,' Hiroki commented maliciously.

'Not eager to get beaten,' Kojiro countered still sounding remarkably relaxed, 'just eager to give this beautiful machine back to its owner,' he added pointing at the V-86 with his thumb.

'Whatever,' Hiroki muttered walking back to his car, climbing into it and turning its engine on so he could roll it next to where the Toyota was.

'Save your tyres till the end,' Kyosuke whispered to Kojiro as the younger guy climbed back into the car, 'you'll need them the most then.'

'Got it,' the eighteen year old said, 'thanks for letting me race,' he added glancing from Kyosuke to Akito.

'No problem,' Kyosuke said.

Meanwhile, Akito patted the roof of his V-86 in a very affectionate manner and clearly speaking to his car, he said:

'Take care of him, okay?'

He then walked away from the Toyota while Kojiro stared at the unfamiliar steering wheel, hoping that the V-86 would obey its owner's orders.

Finally and after Kyosuke shouted the 'go' sign, both cars took off leaving a rubber mark imprinted onto the tarmac as they sped their way up the Akagi's pass very steep hill with Hiroki taking the provisional lead of the race.

'That kid's good,' Taro commented.

'What are you talking about?' Junya protested.

'I meant the other kid,' Taro said, 'what was his name?'

'Tsuchiya Kojiro,' Akito replied.

'Tsuchiya?' Ichiro from the Hakone Maniacs asked, 'is he related to Tsuchiya Keiichi?'

'Yep,' Seisuke replied, 'the kid's his grandson.'

'And he's my team mate,' Akito added.

'Oh wow,' Taro gasped, this time speaking to Jiro, he said, 'no offence man but I think your mate's going to be in trouble quite soon.'

'I think he's been in trouble for quite some time,' Jiro replied frowning worriedly.

Meanwhile, Hiroki didn't feel like he was having all that many problems keeping Kojiro behind since the younger guy didn't seem to want to go anywhere near the Mitsubishi's rear bumper.

'He's such a fag,' Hiroki commented arrogantly as he entered a left hander while letting the car drift up the corner, getting as close to the guardrail as he could enjoying the fact that his father's last check up to the car's suspensions had done wonders with its manoeuvrability.

Just behind the Eclipse, Kojiro observed the line Hiroki was taking and, instead of copying it as it would have been the most instinctive thing to do, he decided to stick to the lines he'd come up while driving his grandfather's car and while practicing with Akito's.

He had to admit it, the V-86 was a truly great machine and the more he drove it the more he understood the reason why Akito was so proud of his ride. He made a mental note to ask his grandfather if he could possibly get him a similar model so he could start getting some practice with his own car.

'Oops,' Kojiro gasped seeing that he was getting much too close to Hiroki's car. He then slowed down just enough so he could bring the gap between both cars back to where he wanted it, 'geez, I almost ruined my strategy,' he added.

Back at the base, Ryoko saw that Atsuko, the girl from the Hakone Maniacs against whom she'd had her first and only race, was walking towards her.

'So much for a friendly meeting,' she commented.

'I know,' Ryoko said, 'I'm sorry about that.'

'It's okay,' Atsuko said, 'after all, it's not like I was going to ask you for a rematch or anything.'

'You weren't?' Ryoko asked.

'Nope,' the slightly older girl replied, 'I've kind of given up racing.'

'Why?' Ryoko exclaimed.

'Er,' Atsuko hesitated then, she looked around herself before whispering, ''don't tell anyone but…well…'

The unmistakable way the girl covered her lower tummy with her hand made everything pretty clear to the poor Ryoko who only managed to gasp and look completely stunned for quite a while before she managed to say:

'W-who's the…'

'Ichiro,' she replied glancing at the Hakone Maniacs' leader who was currently talking to Seisuke.

'Wow,' Ryoko said, 'I didn't even know you were together.'

'Yeah well, we started dating after Ichiro raced your cousin last June. We moved in together a few months ago and…well…we kind of let this happen…'

'Wow,' Ryoko repeated, 'congratulations, I guess.'

'Thanks,' Atsuko said, 'I know we're both very young but I couldn't wait to give Ichiro a son or a daughter: you know how depressed he's been ever since the night when that Misa-san's brother died.'

Ryoko nodded understandingly as she allowed herself to imagine how extraordinarily happy she would be the day when she could tell Akito that she was expecting their baby while hoping that she wouldn't have to wait too long before that day came along.

Meanwhile Hiroki had just past the midpoint of the race, his arrogance preventing him from feeling more and more uneasy about the fact that Kojiro still seemed to be quite reluctant of going anywhere near him. Instead, Hiroki mistook this hesitation for fear.

'Is this all he's got?' Hiroki asked himself, 'how very disappointing.'

It was true that Mt Akagi's uphill was one of the hardest and steepest of the whole region and its pretty sharp corners made it very difficult for anyone to start any kind of offensive manoeuvres. That, combined with the fact that Kojiro was driving a car which wasn't his made it all more difficult for the younger man, however, Hiroki still wished that Kojiro would decide himself to start attacking soon.

Otherwise this race would just be a waste of perfectly good petrol, Hiroki thought angrily and, for the first time since the race had started, he wished he'd challenged Akito instead because racing against Kojiro was proving itself to be quite boring.

Then, and as the end of the course was nearing, the twenty year old started considering to maybe slow down a bit so he could make things a bit more interesting for himself when all of a sudden and to his utmost surprise, he saw as Kojiro started speeding up.

Hiroki hadn't even had the time to prepare himself when he saw the V-86's nose getting close enough to the Eclipse's rear bumper for it to be able to graze it.

'Shit,' Hiroki said as the he felt that his car's tyres had suddenly lost a lot of their grip.

Behind him, Kojiro was already reading himself for the only attack he had planned on doing and, as they entered the right hander where both his grandfather and Kyosuke had advised him to do so, he veered towards the outside of the turn just as Hiroki was taking the inside of it.

Using the extra grip the car's tyres seemed to have, Kojiro managed to accelerate in the middle of the corner, getting the V-86 to be at the exact same level as the Mitsubishi as both cars cleared it.

After that, Kojiro knew that there was a slow and wide left hander which led to the short and narrow straight that was typically considered as the end of the course:

That was the exact point where he overtook Hiroki.

Less than a quarter of a kilometre away from the finish line and as Kojiro was beginning to let his lips form a smile, he felt as Hiroki rammed his car against the back of the poor V-86.

'Hey!' Kojiro exclaimed frowning as he stole a quick glance at the Toyota's rear view mirror.

Seeing that Hiroki was preparing himself to hit Akito's car one more time, Kojiro made a decision in a split second and just as Hiroki started accelerating again, the eighteen year old turned the steering wheel sharply towards the inside of the road, putting both of the right hand side tyres onto the dirt while Hiroki just bypassed him at a horrendously high speed.

Unfortunately for Hiroki, he forgot two very important facts: he had accelerated too much and his car's tyres didn't have the grip they needed to slow the car down as effectively as they should have.

The result wasn't pretty, Kojiro thought as he saw the orange Mitsubishi skidding towards the outer side's guardrail, scratching the whole of its side, finally coming to a stop about two metres away from the finish line.

The time it took for the eighteen year old to stop the car and climb out of it so he could go and check on Hiroki was enough for the older guy to re-start his Mitsubishi's engine, drive off away from Kojiro.

'Oh well, I guess I lost,' he mumbled to himself then, shaking his head, Kojiro made his way to the V-86's rear to see if Hiroki had caused any damage to it and to his utmost horror, the eighteen year old saw that the car's rear bumper had an ugly dent on it and it had was also starting to come off from the points from which it was held in its place.

'Oh shoot,' he muttered, 'Akito's going to kill me.'

_To be continued…_


	19. Chapter Eighteen

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Eighteen_

Kojiro was still crouching next to the V-86 when several people from the public came running towards him and, noticing that, he got up slowly as a guy in his twenties with his hair dyed a violent shade of purple said:

'Hey kid, are you okay?'

'Yeah,' Kojiro said, 'the car isn't though,' he added miserably.

'What that bastard did was horribly unfair,' a pretty girl said and everyone nodded their agreement.

'You shouldn't have stopped,' the guy told Kojiro, 'you should just have carried on driving.'

'I know,' the eighteen year old said, 'I just thought that...oh well, it's useless talking about it. I better head back down.'

'As far as we're concerned, you've won this race,' the guy insisted.

Without saying anything else, Kojiro walked the three steps which separated him from the driver side's door and, climbing back into the car, he inserted the first gear and started manoeuvring the V-86 to get it to face the downhill.

Then, as he drove the V-86 down to the base, Kojiro prepared himself to face Akito's ballistic reaction when he would see the damage Hiroki had caused to his precious machine and, for the first time in a very long time, the eighteen year old felt something quite close to being furious.

Only that his anger was directed almost entirely to himself rather than at Hiroki for, after all and as Akito had warned him, Kojiro should have known better than to expect that Hiroki would give the race up without retaliating in one way or another.

'You're so stupid,' he said to himself.

As he entered the car park, he stopped the V-86 next to the two Mazda RZ-1s belonging to the Takahashi brothers and prayed that he would have enough time to get out of the car and speak to Akito before his team mate would see the rear of his Toyota.

'What...oh crap...' Akito gasped making it very obvious to Kojiro that no one had listened to his prayers.

'I can explain everything,' he hurried to say.

'It was Hiroki, wasn't it?' Akito asked and unbelievably enough, he didn't sound anywhere near as angry as Kojiro feared he would.

'Yes, I'm sorry, I...'

'Don't apologise,' Akito said, 'it's not your fault.'

'But Akito…I…'

'Where is Hiroki?' Misa asked, intervening in their conversation.

'I don't know,' Kojiro replied, 'he just drove off right after winning the race.'

'Hiroki's beaten you?' Seisuke asked his tone expressing the disbelief everyone else was feeling.

'Er...'

'No he didn't,' the purple haired guy said coming out of nowhere, 'we saw him as he crashed then, when this kid stopped his car to check if he was okay, the bastard just drove past the finish line.'

'Is that true?' Akito asked Kojiro and the eighteen year old, unable to do anything else, just nodded, 'in that case,' Akito continued, 'the race is null.'

'What?' Kojiro asked.

'He's right,' Jiro said, 'if a racer crashes his car and the other one stops to go and help him, the race is no longer valid.'

'But...'

'Kojiro,' Seisuke said, 'you did the right thing, it's Hiroki who's acted like the...well, you know what I mean,' he finished noticing the way Misa was looking at him.

'I will pay for the repairs,' Kojiro said to Akito who started shaking his head.

'No need for that, besides, I think it's not the first time I have to replace the bumper,' Akito said.

'It's actually the third,' Kyosuke pointed out.

'Yeah, that's right,' Akito said scratching the back of his head then, remembering that he was angry at Hiroki, he added, 'don't worry about it Kojiro: we'll have our payback time during the next GP2 race.'

'You're not mad?' Kojiro asked his team mate.

'Of course I'm mad,' Akito replied, 'is just that I'm not mad at you.'

Kojiro looked at him feeling quite unsure about whether this was a good thing or not but, for the sake of not arguing, he decided to remain quiet.

'You didn't hurt yourself, did you?' he heard Seisuke ask him.

'No, no, I'm okay,' Kojiro replied.

'Okay, then,' Seisuke said then, turning to face his older brother, he added, 'Aniki, what do we do now?'

'Well, now that the worst is over, I'd say it's time for us to do some serious drifting,' Kyosuke replied.

Hearing that made every one of the racers present there to run to their cars then they all took it in turns to do their runs while racing each other, not really caring about the results since this was, after all, a friendly gathering.

The morning after, Akito drove his car into his favourite car repairs shop in the whole of Gunma when, to his astonishment, he saw that his father's best friend waved at him while Iketani-san seemed to rush back into their garage, almost making it look as though as he was hiding from Akito.

'Morning,' Itsuki said the minute the nineteen year old climbed out of his car.

'Uncle Itsuki, what's up with Iketani-san?' Akito asked.

Itsuki didn't even need to reply to that question for right at that instant Iketani came out of their garage carrying something rather large in his hands: a brand new V-86's rear bumper.

'You're going to need this, aren't you?' Iketani asked Akito who had started feeling rather self-conscious all of a sudden.

'How did you know?' Akito asked.

'The fact that you only come here after you've done something to your car,' Itsuki replied instead of his lifelong friend and work colleague.

Akito was going to protest but thinking about it fairly, he realised that it was true so he decided to remain silent.

'Who were you racing against?' Iketani asked him.

'I wasn't racing anyone,' Akito replied, 'it was Kojiro.'

'You let someone else drive your car?' Itsuki asked his voice loaded with disbelief.

'Yeah,' Akito said then and since he really didn't want to talk about what had happened the previous night for he still felt quite angry about it, he decided to change topic, 'where's Toshi?'

'He's home,' Itsuki replied, 'getting ready for his football match,' he added proudly.

'That's right,' Akito said suddenly remembering, 'he's playing the prefecture's final today, isn't he?'

'Yes,' Itsuki replied, 'why don't you come to watch him? Your parents are.'

'I know, it was Haruko who told me about the game,' Akito replied then, after thinking about it for a few instants, he said, 'you know what? I think I'll come to cheer for him. After all, I've got the day off and Ryoko's busy writing some essay.'

'Great,' Itsuki said, 'it'll mean the world to Toshi to have all of you supporting him.'

After Itsuki and Iketani reassured Akito that the repairs to the V-86 would be done by the end of the morning, Akito decided to just go and take a stroll around the city centre enjoying the fact that, for the first time in ages, he was entirely by himself.

Then, seeing a really nice pair of trousers, he decided that he would spend a bit of his money doing some much needed shopping.

Two t-shirts, a pair of trousers and a wristwatch later, Akito made it back to the garage where he found Hikaru explaining to his father about the great time he'd just had driving one of the Toyota Vera from the Takahashi Motorsports Centre.

'Akito-san!' the fourteen year old boy shouted seeing his idol there.

'Hey, how are you?' Akito asked.

'I'm great!' Hikaru replied, 'do you know what I did today?'

'Nope, what did you do?' he asked.

'I drifted!' Hikaru exclaimed.

'No, you didn't,' his father contradicted him, 'you just managed to make the rear of the car slid…'

'…before you lost control of it,' Itsuki finished.

'That's a good start,' Akito said trying to encourage a positively mortified looking Hikaru, 'now all you need to do is to bring the car under your control just in time to clear the corner.'

'Easier said than done,' Iketani said while Itsuki nodded his agreement.

'Come on guys,' Akito complained then, looking at Hikaru, he said, 'don't mind them: you're going to be a great driver one day.'

'You really think so?' Hikaru asked looking rather uncertain.

'Absolutely,' Akito replied, 'and don't let anyone tell you differently, okay?'

Hikaru nodded at that while Akito caught the brief but meaningful look both Iketani and Itsuki exchanged making Akito understand that the two older men were just applying one of his grandfather's lessons when it came to good parenting: keep your kid's ego in check!

A few hours later and with the four Fujiwaras on board of his newly repaired V-86, Akito drove his family to the Maebashi's Sports Centre where the Shibukawa Middle School's football team would be playing against some private school from Takasaki. The winner of this match would earn itself the right to go to the inter-high championships which would be played in Tokyo at the end of the summer.

'Toshi must be so nervous,' Haruko commented as she climbed out of her older brother's car.

'Nah,' Takumi said to his daughter, 'I'm pretty sure he's used to the pressure by now.'

'Just like you are when you race with your karts,' Akito added.

'But I still get nervous,' Haruko countered.

'Nope,' Takumi said, 'what you get is an adrenaline rush. Just like I used to do every time I raced and like your brother does whenever he races.'

'Exactly,' Akito agreed.

'Shall we go now?' Natsuki said getting visibly impatient, 'Mariko and Itsuki have been waiting for us for ages.'

'Hey,' Takumi complained, 'it's not my fault you and Haruko needed so long to get ready.'

'Nor it's mine you and Akito decided to take the secondary road just because "it's a lot more fun",' she countered.

'Dad,' Akito said shaking his head in defeat, 'I think it's one-nil for Mum and Haruko.'

'I'd say it's more like a one-one draw,' Takumi said and that made the other three Fujiwara let out a soft chuckle.

It had been a very good idea to come here with his family, Akito thought as they climbed up the stairs which led to the small football stadium where the game would be played. Spending some quality time with his parents and sister was possibly one of the best ways to keep his mind busy enough so he wouldn't think of a certain racer who made him feel quite murderous.

'Hello,' Itsuki said to his best friend then, looking at Akito, he added, 'again…'

'Hi,' Natsuko replied politely while Takumi just offered a quick wave before all four Fujiwara took a seat at the grandstand.

'Sayuki and Kenji couldn't make it,' Itsuki's gorgeous wife commented, 'but Koichiro and Mako should be joining us sometime soon.'

This made Haruko's face lighten up for the girl thought that, if the Iketani were coming, it probably meant that Hikaru would be with his parents too.

'Where's Toshi?' she asked looking at her best friend's parents.

'He's getting ready,' Mariko replied.

'But he said he'll be allowed to come to see us just before the game,' Itsuki added.

Haruko wanted to say something else but then she saw something which made her lose her ability to speak: Hikaru was indeed walking towards them along with his parents but, to Haruko's horror, he wasn't alone.

'Who's that?' Akito voiced the very question his younger sister was dying to ask.

'I'm not sure sweetheart,' Mariko replied.

'Iketani told me that Hikaru's been seeing a girl from his school,' Itsuki said, 'maybe that's her…'

Akito's instinctive reaction was to look at his baby sister who, predictably enough, looked absolutely devastated and before anyone could do anything, she got up and started running in the exact opposite direction from which the Iketani were coming from.

'What the…' Takumi muttered.

'I'll go after her,' Akito said and before waiting for an answer from any of the four adults, he got up and started following his sister damning the little devil for being so fast and, when he finally made it to the bottom of the stairs he'd seen his sister take, he heard the very familiar voice of the girl's best friend.

'Hey Haruko, what's up?' Akito heard Toshi asking her.

'I…Hikaru…'

It was at this point when Akito decided to walk back up the stairs since he clearly wasn't supposed to hear that particular conversation.

'Haruko, what's wrong with Hikaru?' Toshi asked his best friend feeling too worried to become aware of the fact that the girl's older brother was retreating as fast and as quietly as he could.

'He's got a girlfriend,' Haruko spat.

'Ah…that…' Toshi said.

'You knew?' Haruko exclaimed incredulously.

'Kind of,' Toshi replied, still keeping an annoyingly calm tone of voice, 'I didn't know he'd asked her out but I knew he fancied someone…'

'Why didn't you tell me?' Haruko asked now sounding almost angry at him and seeing this made Toshi consider several answers until, deciding that he had postponed this moment for long enough, he took a deep breath before he said:

'He told me when I told him that I liked you.'

Toshi had to repress a chuckle for he had never seen Haruko look any more stunned. Enzo Ferrari himself could have come back from the dead to ask her to drive one of his cars and Haruko would have probably looked less surprised.

'I know that you don't feel the same way about me but I still wanted you to know,' Toshi hurried to say.

'Toshi…' the girl managed to whisper.

'Haruko,' he interrupted her, 'I've been wanting to tell you about my feelings for quite a while but I was afraid that if you knew you wouldn't want to be my best friend anymore.'

'Toshi…' she repeated and this time her voice sounded louder and a little less shocked.

'I promise that nothing will change between us,' Toshi continued, 'I'm prepared to wait forever for you to figure out if you can like me too.'

'Toshi, that's kind of unfair, isn't it?' Haruko asked him.

'Not really,' Toshi replied, 'because I really needed to come clean with you. Now that I have I feel tons better.'

Haruko let out a soft laugh before she said:

'You're always so nice to me.'

'That's because I like you,' Toshi countered, 'I think that this makes it very easy for me to cope with everything you put me through.'

'Hey!' Haruko protested punching Toshi's arm playfully.

'I better go,' the twelve year old boy said, 'the coach just gave us five minutes to talk to our families and I've used them up with you.'

'Sorry,' Haruko said.

'Do me a favour, will you?' Toshi asked, 'tell my parents I'm sorry I couldn't make it and that I'll do my best during the game.'

Haruko nodded to that then, driven by some unknown instinct, she grasped Toshi's arm, put herself onto her tiptoes and gave him a quick peck on his cheek.

'For luck,' she said before running back upstairs leaving an utterly astonished Toshi behind who, as he made his way to his team's locker room, kept his hand pressed firmly against the cheek Haruko had just kissed.

By the time the girl made it back to where her family and friends were, Akito noticed that his sister's mood had improved quite dramatically and, judging by the way she smiled at everybody, including the girl who now sat next to Hikaru, the nineteen year old couldn't help but to think that something had changed in his sister for the better.

For this Akito felt very grateful to Toshi for what a great friend he was to Haruko and for this, he gave all he got as he cheered for the boy who, fuelled by the good luck kiss Haruko had given him, even managed to score the goal which put his team on the list of the schools which would be playing the upcoming all Japan, inter-high championship.

'So the little punk has made it to the national finals?' Keisuke asked Takumi as he finished explaining to him all the highlights of the match.

'Yes,' Takumi replied, 'Itsuki went completely nuts over it, I swear, I've never seen a father look any prouder of his kid.'

'That's because you don't look at yourself whenever Akito or Haruko win one of their races,' Keisuke said.

'Yeah, but that's different,' Takumi defended himself.

Keisuke was going to respond to that when he heard his office's phone ringing.

'Hello?' he said then, almost immediately after, he added, 'speaking.'

Takumi observed as Keisuke listened to whoever had called, interrupting now and then to say either 'yes' or 'I see' to finish off with a, 'tomorrow morning? Sure, we'll be here.'

With this, he put the phone back into its base before looking at his former best enemy with a startled expression on his handsome face.

'What's up?' Takumi asked.

'You're not going to believe who that was.'

'Try me,' Takumi said.

'Do you remember Sudo?' Keisuke asked.

'Yeah, of course,' Takumi replied.

'Well, he's coming here tomorrow morning,' Keisuke explained, 'apparently, he needs to tell us something that is of vital importance for our GP2 team.'

_To be continued…_


	20. Chapter Nineteen

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Nineteen_

The next day, a Monday, Keisuke and Takumi met way before any other member of the Takawara team had arrived at the centre for their usual testing session and, even though it wasn't unusual for the two of them to do so, this time they had an extra good reason to be there.

'What do you think he wants?' Takumi asked Keisuke as they stood outside the main building as he sipped the contents of a can of warm coffee.

'No idea,' Keisuke replied, 'but, being Sudo, I expect almost anything…'

Takumi was about to say something when they saw a beautiful pitch black Mitsubishi X-4 driving into the centre's car park. It was the latest version of the Lancer Evolution X and even though its prototype had finally been put into production, as far as Takumi and Keisuke knew, it wasn't supposed to be commercially available yet.

Judging by the powerful roar they could hear coming from under the bonnet, its engine had been as finely tuned as that of the old EVO III the former leader of the Emperors used to drive and the car itself seemed to be entirely designed according to the man's preferences.

Only one thing was clear: whatever Sudo Kyoichi did nowadays, it afforded him enough power and money to be able to drive such an amazing car.

'Hello there,' Kyoichi said as he climbed out of his Mitsubishi and Takumi felt very much taken aback seeing what the now fifty year old guy looked like.

Granted, after so many years Takumi wasn't expecting the guy to still be wearing that white bandanna and black leather jacket which characterised him when he was much younger but, seeing the sleek, elegant and sophisticated middle aged man he had in front of him stunned Takumi almost as much as it had obviously done to Keisuke.

'Hi,' the younger of the original set of Takahashi brothers managed to say, 'I hope you didn't have problems finding us…'

'No, I didn't,' Kyoichi replied, 'this baby here comes with the latest technology when it comes to portable GPS navigation systems,' he added indicating the Mitsubishi.

'That's a great car,' Takumi commented, 'I didn't think they had started selling it to the public…'

'We haven't,' Kyoichi replied, 'we're still testing them and I've just offered myself to be one of the testers.'

Both Takumi and Keisuke looked rather confused and that made Kyoichi add:

'I'm sorry, I thought you two knew: I work as an advisor for the Mitsubishi Motorsports Division.'

'Ah, is that so?' Keisuke asked.

'Yes,' Kyoichi replied, 'I told your brother when we met in Tokyo a few years ago.'

'You and Aniki met last year?' Keisuke asked while trying to remember if his older brother had ever mentioned any such thing.

'Yes,' Kyoichi replied, 'your brother was at some healthcare conference and I was there for the presentation of our rallying team.'

'I see,' Keisuke said.

'So, what can we do for you?' Takumi asked and Kyoichi laughed at that in a rather patronising manner.

'It's not so much what you can do for me,' he then said with a smug smirk, 'as it is what I've got for you.'

Typical of Kyoichi, both Keisuke and Takumi thought as they exchanged an almost amused look.

'Let's go to my office,' Keisuke suggested.

'You've set up a terrific place in here,' Kyoichi commented as all three men walked into the building and towards the huge office Keisuke called his own.

'It's doing wonders keeping the prefecture's kids out of trouble,' Keisuke explained.

'It probably does,' Kyoichi said noncommittally.

At long last, Keisuke took his seat behind his desk while Kyoichi sat on one of two extremely comfy leather chairs which were placed in front of it. Takumi decided to remain standing up next to the shelves which contained the Super GT trophies the Kirin Takahashi Team had won an eternity ago.

'Does the name Hashimoto Hideyuki ring any bells?' Kyoichi asked then.

Keisuke looked at Takumi almost as if he expected the slightly younger man to reply but all Takumi could do was to look even more puzzled than he did.

'No, it doesn't,' Keisuke finally said, 'should it?'

Kyoichi looked at Keisuke as if he wanted to exclaim his disapproval but then, after shaking his head in an almost imperceptible manner, he said:

'He was a reasonably good rally driver.'

'Okay,' Keisuke said with such a hesitant tone that it made it quite clear that he still didn't remember that name from anywhere. Then both he and Takumi saw Kyoichi taking a deep breath as though as he was trying to summon all his patience to help him with the task of trying to talk to the two slightly younger men.

'You do remember when your team won the GT500 titles, don't you?' he asked almost sarcastically.

'Vividly,' Takumi replied instead and Keisuke felt the usual pang he still got when anyone went anywhere near the subject of Takumi's first wife's death.

'That's right,' Kyoichi said looking suddenly a lot more serious, 'I kind of forgot what happened to you back then.'

'Lucky you,' Takumi countered using a flat tone of voice.

'Anyway,' Kyoichi continued as he switched his gaze from Takumi to Keisuke, 'the point is, when that season was over, you went on to join Tsuchiya in that rallying project of his, didn't you?'

'Yes, I did,' Keisuke replied, 'you seem to know an awful lot about what we did.'

'I've kept myself informed,' Kyoichi said, 'after all, it's difficult being in our environment and not knowing what the Takahashi brothers from Gunma are up to.'

'That's probably right,' Keisuke conceded.

'What does this have to do with that Hashimoto guy?' Takumi asked.

'I was getting there,' Kyoichi replied sounding almost offended, 'Fujiwara, you've always been too eager to get to the finish line.'

Takumi chose to say nothing so Kyoichi was forced to continue:

'When Tsuchiya set his team up he got quite a few sponsors because, after all, it was him leading the project and he was bringing one of the best drivers of the moment into the rallying championship.'

'Yeah,' Keisuke said, trying not to sound too arrogant.

'One of the sponsors you got was the DENSO brand, wasn't it?' Kyoichi asked.

'I think so, yes,' Keisuke replied.

'Well,' Kyoichi said, 'guess who'd been wooing that corporation so that they would sponsor him instead.'

'Hashimoto?' Keisuke asked.

'Exactly,' Kyoichi replied, 'like I said, he was a reasonably good driver but, unlike you guys, he had to fight to get the sponsors he needed to carry on racing.'

'But…' Takumi started.

'When you got the sponsorship he so desperately needed,' Kyoichi continued, 'he found himself without a race seat and after that, it all went downhill for him.'

'What do you mean?' Keisuke asked, a worried frown beginning to appear on his face.

'He got really depressed because he realised that his professional racing career was over and, unfortunately for his beloved ones, he took everything the worst possible way.'

'He didn't kill himself, did he?' Keisuke exclaimed.

'Nope,' Kyoichi said, 'but he didn't do anything to prevent his death either.'

'How did that happen?' Takumi asked.

'He became an alcoholic and he crashed his car against a huge truck while driving like a madman on the motorway going at over two hundred kilometres an hour. It was all over the news at the time.'

'I didn't know,' Takumi said, yet again, he thought miserably, at that time he and the rest of his friends and family had been too shaken by the sudden death of his first wife to care about much more else.

'That's not so important now,' Kyoichi continued, 'what's important is that Hashimoto had a much younger brother who sworn he would avenge his beloved brother's untimely death.'

'I still don't see how this affects us in any way,' Takumi said.

'I do hope the name Kobita does tell you something,' Kyoichi commented this time not bothering to hide the sarcasm from his voice.

'Of course it does,' Keisuke replied almost angrily.

'Well, Kobita is the uncle of the two Hashimoto brothers and the man who raised them both.'

'Wow,' Takumi gasped.

'Oh crap!' Keisuke exclaimed all of a sudden, 'Takumi, didn't Akito say something about some guy who had threatened him during the race in Spain?'

'Yes, he did,' Takumi replied, 'he also told me that this same guy seemed to be friends with Hiroki. He introduced himself as Hashimoto Ken.'

'That's him,' Kyoichi confirmed finally looking happy seeing that the two other men seemed to understand the situation.

'But…'

'Fujiwara,' Kyoichi interrupted him, 'I'm pretty sure that the surviving Hashimoto brother and his uncle have been targeting your team for quite a while.'

'Why didn't you tell us earlier?' Keisuke asked.

'Because I wanted to be absolutely sure that what I'd heard wasn't just the usual groundless gossip,' Kyoichi replied.

'What do you think Kobita and Hashimoto want to do?' Takumi asked him.

'I don't really know but, from what I've heard, they've already caused quite a lot of damage to your team's peace of mind,' Kyoichi said.

'If what you've heard has anything to do with the problems we've had with our driver, you're wrong,' Keisuke asked, 'because that was provoked by an entirely different issue.'

'Keisuke,' Takumi suddenly said, 'if you think about it, it kind of makes sense.'

'What does?'

'Hiroki's personality has never been an easygoing one but, before everything went to the dogs with him, he seemed to be willing to do his best for the team.'

'Yes, but…' Keisuke started.

'I don't think Ryoko was the cause of it all,' Takumi said, 'sure, it probably was the trigger but, I'm beginning to think that his befriending this Hashimoto guy has a lot to do with what happened next.'

'Now that you mention it.'

'Did you say this Hiroki kid has become friends with Hashimoto?' Kyoichi asked interrupting Keisuke.

'Yes, my son saw them together a couple of times during the last race,' Takumi explained.

'That's what he and Kobita are up to then!' Kyoichi exclaimed triumphantly, looking as though as he felt very pleased with himself.

'What do you mean?' Takumi asked.

'I started paying attention to this whole thing when I heard that Kobita was targeting a kid called Fujiwara,' Kyoichi explained, 'I investigated a little and I found out that the kid in question was actually your son.'

'But…'

'Your kid probably proved to be a much too difficult target for them so they went for the weakest link within your team.'

'Hiroki,' Keisuke said and Kyoichi just nodded.

'What do they want to do?' Takumi asked.

'Like I said I don't know,' Kyoichi replied, 'but that's what I came here to ask you: start paying extra attention to whatever the Kobita Racing Team does.'

'We will,' Keisuke assured him, 'and thanks for the heads up.'

'No problem,' Kyoichi said, 'contrary to popular belief, I hate it when people don't play fairly.'

'We've never thought differently,' Takumi said.

'That's good to know,' Kyoichi said then, getting up from his chair, he said, 'unfortunately I must go now, I've got work to do.'

'Why don't you come over one day so we can show you around properly?' Keisuke asked as he got up too.

'I may do that,' Kyoichi replied, 'I may even ask you to let me use your track. Do you still have that AE86 of yours?' he then asked to Takumi.

'Of course I do,' he replied.

'Great,' Kyoichi said, 'I could bring my old EVO III over and if you feel like it we could take them both for a spin.'

Takumi felt as his eyes widened with the shock and he felt even worse when Kyoichi started smiling at him in an almost condescending way.

'I was just kidding,' he said, 'besides, there's no way I'll ever race you again: I learnt my lesson after the last time we raced.'

As soon as they saw the back of the Mitsubishi as it left the Takahashi Motorsports Centre, Keisuke and Takumi made their way to the Takawara Racing Team's base.

'Shall we tell the guys?' Takumi asked.

'I wouldn't tell them everything,' Keisuke replied, 'just enough so that they know they need to keep a close watch on whatever the Kobita team does.'

'What about Hiroki?' Takumi asked.

'I honestly don't know,' Keisuke said shrugging his shoulders, 'I guess we should try talking to his father first and see what he thinks.'

Takumi nodded his agreement to that.

A few days after that, the Golden Arrows were gathered up at the summit of Mt Akagi where they waited for the Kanto Kaisers to show up for what it was predicted to be the racing event of the year. So far, and to everyone's disappointment, every single team who'd raced against them had been badly beaten and, right now, only the Golden Arrows stood on their way to become the true kings of street racing.

However and for as long as the Takahashi brothers had any say in the matter, that evening would mark the end of the Kanto Kaisers' winning streak. Or so they hoped.

'I still can't believe he's being used quite this badly,' Kyosuke commented to his fiancée Kizuna as they stood next to their rides watching the rest of the Golden Arrows as they chatted happily with the huge amount of friends and supporters who had come to see the races.

'I just wish we could do something,' Kizuna said.

'We can't,' Kyosuke countered, 'you heard what my uncle said.'

'Still…'

'I know,' Kyosuke agreed, 'I just hope they come up with something soon for I don't think Akito can be patient for much longer,' he added as he looked at the nineteen year old who was currently talking to his girlfriend.

'What do you mean?' Kizuna asked her fiancé.

'Akito wants to do something,' Kyosuke explained, 'apparently, he feels responsible for part of what's happening to Hiroki.'

'What? How?' Kizuna exclaimed.

'I'm not entirely sure,' Kyosuke said, 'all I know is that he thinks he could have done a lot more to make sure Hiroki knew in which kind of trouble he was getting himself into.'

'But Hiroki was after Ryoko…'

'…and that's probably what prevented Akito from insisting,' Kyosuke interrupted her, 'Akito thinks he's let himself be blinded by the anger he felt towards Hiroki but now that he's found out about what Hashimoto and Kobita want from Hiroki…well…'

'I get you,' Kizuna said.

'They're here!' they heard someone shout and, indeed, Kyosuke and Kizuna saw the four cars which formed the small but extremely powerful team.

'Let's do this,' Kyosuke said making his way to the bright yellow 2013 Mitsubishi X-2 belonging to Fujimoto Shinobu, the Kanto Kaisers' leader.

'Hello,' Fujimoto said after climbing out of his car, 'this is a very nice mountain pass,' he commented looking around himself.

'I know,' Kyosuke agreed, 'we never race here except for very special occasions.'

'Then I'm flattered,' Fujimoto said.

'Hi,' Fujimoto's friend and team mate Daichiro said as he too got out of his dark purple Subaru WRX, 'is that girl I raced against around here?' he asked.

'Yes, she is,' Kyosuke replied as he pointed at Misa who was already walking towards them with Seisuke, Akito and Ryoko.

'She seems to be doing alright,' Daichiro commented.

'She's fine,' Kyosuke replied then, as soon as he got his team gathered, he asked Fujimoto, 'so, who from the four of you is going to be racing us?'

Fujimoto looked at his three team mates and giving a curt nod to them, he turned back to Kyosuke and said:

'I think it's going to be me and Daichiro again…'

'Great,' Seisuke said, 'I'll be racing you,' he added looking straight at Daichiro.

'And I'll…' Kyosuke started then, he looked at Akito and said, 'Akito, do you want to race tonight?'

Akito shook his head and grinning at his team leader, he said:

'No, you do it. I know that you've been dying for a good race for quite a while.'

Kyosuke nodded once before turning his attention back to Fujimoto.

'Alright then,' the older Takahashi brother said, 'it's going to be me against you and Seisuke versus your friend. Do you have any preferences regarding whether we race up or downhill?'

'I doesn't matter,' Fujimoto said, 'maybe Daichiro and your brother can race downhill first, then we could take the uphill.'

'Sounds good to me,' Kyosuke said then, looking at Seisuke and seeing his younger brother's nod, he said, 'you can now do some practice runs if you want.'

'That won't be necessary,' Fujimoto interrupted him, 'we've been practicing here for quite a while so I'd say we could just race.'

'Okay, let's do it,' Kyosuke said.

Ten minutes later, Seisuke's white RZ-1 was parked next to the Subaru WRX ready to start the race when Misa came walking towards her boyfriend and said:

'Be very careful, okay?'

'Don't worry, I will be…'

'Honestly Seisuke, he does something to your concentration that makes you stop knowing what you're doing.'

'A bit like what you do to me, huh?' Seisuke teased her.

'Seisuke, I'm serious.'

'I know baby, I know,' Seisuke said, 'don't worry, I'll be fine.'

Giving her a quick peck, Seisuke climbed into his Mazda and he felt quite happy that, at long last, he was behind the wheel of his car, getting ready for a race.

_To be continued…_


	21. Chapter Twenty

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Twenty_

Even though Seisuke knew it would happen, it still felt quite denigrating when he and Daichiro started the race and the older guy, no only let Seisuke get ahead of him, but he even allowed himself to start the race about half a second after Seisuke.

However and just as the doctor-in-training prepared himself to enter the first corner, even before he had had the time to even think about blocking it, the twenty three year old was forced to watch the dark purple Subaru WRX driving past him, from the outside and with such an ease that it almost made him feel like crying.

'You'll pay for this,' Seisuke muttered angrily as he pressed the accelerator so he could keep up with the Subaru but after clearing just a few corners, he understood what Misa had told him about what this Daichiro guy seemed to do in order to break one's concentration: his lines, to begin with, were all over the place and, the seemingly effortless way in which he drove down the hill made Seisuke feel very uneasy.

Taking a deep breath, Seisuke steeled his grasp on the RZ-1's steering wheel as he did his very best to stick to the lines he knew were the ideal ones for this particular sector of his home course.

Meanwhile, back at the top of the mountain, Misa seemed to look quite worried.

'He'll be fine,' Ryoko said to her.

'What?' Misa asked sounding almost startled.

'Seisuke,' Ryoko explained, 'he's a great racer.'

'Oh, I know that,' Misa said with a short laugh.

'Misa, are you okay?'

The older girl looked at her boyfriend's cousin as though as she was debating with herself how to answer to that question.

'Not really,' Misa finally replied.

'What's wrong?' Ryoko asked.

'Er…' Misa started then, looking around herself to see that Akito was out of hearing range for he was busy discussing something with Junya and Shinji.

'Misa?' Ryoko insisted.

'I'm worried about Hiroki,' Misa said.

'Ah, that…'

'Ryoko, I know that he's probably not on your…'

'Misa,' Ryoko interrupted her, 'I'm worried about him too. After all, everything that's happened to him is my fault.'

'What? No way…'

'Yes way, Misa,' Ryoko said, 'if I had handled the situation a lot better maybe Hiroki would have given up on me and he would still be a member of our team and…'

'Ryoko, you don't know that,' Misa interrupted her, 'in all the time I've known Hiroki, he's never shown any interest in any of the girls who were after him.'

'Misa,' Ryoko protested for that wasn't making her feel any better.

'Let me finish,' Misa said then, without waiting for an answer, she added, 'now that I know about this Hashimoto guy I understand the reason why Hiroki acted the way he did and that's the reason why I'm so worried about him. '

'What do you mean?'

'Hiroki's a changed man,' Misa said, 'I no longer know what to expect from him. Ever since he ran away from that race against Kojiro he hasn't returned any of my calls. Not even Kosugi has managed to get in touch with him.'

'Do you think Akito's dad or mine will be able to do something to help him?' Ryoko asked.

'I hope so,' Misa replied.

'They better,' Ryoko added, 'otherwise I don't know what Akito will do: he feels even more guilty than I do about all of this.'

'Why is that?' Misa asked.

'Because it was Akito who introduced Hiroki to the GP2's racing world, wasn't he?' Ryoko explained, 'he believes it's partially his fault that those guys saw Hiroki as the weakest link.'

'I see,' Misa said and then it was the two of them who looked very concerned so much so that Misa felt quite bad with herself because, once again, she seemed to be paying more attention to whatever was happening with Hiroki than to her own boyfriend who, by the way, was currently racing an ex-professional racer and therefore in dire need of support.

The white RZ-1 had somehow reached the race's midpoint and, despite the fact that its driver had been pushing it to its limits, the gap between the Mazda and the Subaru kept steadily increasing making Seisuke think, for the first time in his life, that he was really going to lose the race.

'Fuck,' he breathed and even though his forehead was drenched with pearls of sweat, Seisuke didn't trust himself enough to let go of the steering wheel for the RZ-1 was currently travelling at such a high speed that the smallest of mistakes would send him flying off the cliff.

Stealing a quick glance at the Subaru, the twenty three year old noticed with immense displeasure that Daichiro still didn't even seem to be anywhere near as much in trouble as Seisuke was.

How in the heck did he manage to drive like that? Seisuke thought desperately.

A few kilometres town the road, Kyosuke was standing by his RZ-1 with a very worried frown on his face when he saw his fiancée Kizuna walking towards him.

'He's still behind,' the girl said, 'Masato just reported from the midpoint and he says that there is a gap of four seconds between them…'

Without saying anything to that, Kyosuke got into his car and switched the radio on.

'Seisuke, it's me,' he said.

'Aniki, this looks pretty bad.'

Kyosuke winced for he had never heard his younger brother speaking with such a dejected tone of voice.

'Seisuke, this is what I want you to do: drive as you usually do, stop looking at him and focus on your driving. Don't give up just yet, do you hear me?' he ordered then, after a brief silence, he heard:

'I hear you.'

'Good, now go and do your thing,' Kyosuke said and, as an afterthought, he added, 'and make me proud!'

The soft chuckle he heard from his younger brother made Kyosuke smile for he knew that now, with this new-found determination, Seisuke would start driving in his uniquely aggressive style and therefore he would attack Daichiro in every single corner until the older guy would either give up or crash.

The doctor-in-training vowed to do his best not to betray his brother's expectations and, at the fifth attack and with only a couple of other places left where it was possible to do so, he managed to enter the corner while pushing the WRX towards the outside of it.

They exited the turn side by side but at the following one Seisuke drifted into it making it virtually impossible for the Subaru to enter the corner before the RZ-1 did then, as the Mazda started clearing it, Seisuke found himself in a position which finally was at his own advantage, he was ahead and could do now what he did best: blocking the opponent.

Luckily Seisuke only had to do that for a very short time for he noticed that, as they reached the end of the course, Daichiro was preparing himself to do one last desperate attack.

'No-no,' Seisuke muttered as he floored the RZ-1 accelerator finally crossing the finish line with a margin of just half a car.

Then, as he parked his car next to that of his older brother Seisuke realised that his legs were trembling so violently that he doubted he could get out of the car and stand up by himself.

'Seisuke, are you okay?' he heard his brother ask as Kyosuke opened the white RZ-1's door.

'F-fuck, A-aniki…' Seisuke stuttered.

'Seisuke?' Kyosuke asked, this time sounding a lot more urgent, 'what's wrong?'

'Is he okay?' Daichiro asked as he and his friend Fujimoto walked towards the RZ-1.

'I…I think I am,' Seisuke replied then, glancing first at his older brother then at Daichiro, he added, 'this was the worst race of my whole life.'

'I'm sorry to hear that,' Daichiro said looking slightly offended.

'No, no,' Seisuke hurried to say, 'it's just that I've never had to drive quite as hard as you've made me.'

'Same here,' Daichiro said and that made everyone turn their heads sharply to look at him, 'you really are a great driver, even though I've tried my best to confuse you, you've still kept your cool…and the way you've overtaken me…man, that's given me the creeps.'

Seisuke chuckled and, realising that his lower limbs were no longer shaking, he finally decided to climb out of his car.

'Thanks for this fantastic race,' he said offering Daichiro his hand.

'You're welcome,' the older guy said shaking it briefly, 'I'm glad that girlfriend of yours is fine too.'

'Yeah,' Seisuke said.

'She really is gorgeous…if she were single…'

'Hey, watch it,' Seisuke said warningly but then, realising that Daichiro was just winding him up, Seisuke smiled as he shook his head disapprovingly. Kizuna, observing all of this, tilted her head towards her fiancé and whispered:

'I think your brother has finally found someone who can be as much of a teaser as he is.'

Kyosuke just nodded at that while giving her a tiny smile.

'Shall we hit the road?' he then heard Fujimoto say.

'Yeah, the sooner the better,' Kyosuke replied and, with this, he walked towards his own RZ-1, a slightly older version of that of Seisuke which had just had its yellow paintwork redone.

Five minutes later, the same scene repeated itself only that, this time, the drivers were Fujimoto and Kyosuke while their rides were a bright yellow highly tuned Mitsubishi X-2 and an equally well prepped Mazda RZ-1.

'Aniki, be careful these…'

'I know, Seisuke, I know,' Kyosuke said looking through the opened window at his younger brother, 'don't worry: I know what I have to do.'

'Of course you do,' Seisuke said smiling at his brother confidently.

Nodding once, Kyosuke glanced at Kizuna who stood right in front of him, ready to do the countdown, looking at him in a way which made him get all the encouragement he needed so, pressing the button to roll the window up, he started his pre-race routine of checking that everything was exactly as he wanted it then, he closed his eyes for a few moments.

'Let's do it,' he muttered as he turned the RZ-1's engine on enjoying, as he usually did, the way its vibrations made him feel part of the car itself. His Aunt Kyoko had told him numerous times about the time when, because of a very desperate situation, she had been forced to take him as one month old baby in the passenger seat of her black FD, Kyosuke had always believed that it had been then when he'd fallen in love with the sensations the rotary engine's vibrations made him feel.

By the time Kizuna finally shouted the 'go', Kyosuke had reached such a high level of concentration that he didn't care about anything else other than getting to the top of the mountain as soon as he could.

'Wow,' Seisuke gasped.

'What the…' he heard Daichiro say and, judging by his startled expression the younger of the two Takahashi brothers realised that the fact that Fujimoto had been left behind as badly as he had, wasn't part of the plan at all.

'Seisuke,' he then heard Kizuna say, 'do you think the same thing I do?'

'I think so…'

'What's going on?' Daichiro asked.

'No offence but…' Seisuke started.

'I've only seen Kyosuke driving like this once before,' Kizuna interrupted him, 'and that was when he raced me.'

'Holy crap,' Seisuke said.

'Care to explain?' one of Daichiro's friends asked.

'It's over,' Daichiro replied instead, 'if your brother drives like that throughout the entire course, Fujimoto won't have any chance to keep up with him.'

'Hey,' Seisuke said, 'your mate is extremely good.'

'It's not a question of technique.'

'Is this because of his injury?' Kizuna asked.

'Yes,' Daichiro replied.

'What's wrong with your friend?' Seisuke asked.

'I don't think you'd understand,' Daichiro replied.

'I'm training to become a doctor,' Seisuke countered and the older man nodded once, then he said:

'Fujimoto suffers from a heart condition called macrocardio…'

'Oh shit,' Seisuke muttered and was about to start running to his car when Daichiro grabbed him by his arm.

'Where are you going?' he asked.

'I'm going to stop this race,' Seisuke replied trying to release himself from the older guy's grasp.

'What's going on?' Kizuna asked.

'Fujimoto's seriously ill,' Seisuke explained, 'he shouldn't be racing at all!'

'He knows what he's doing,' Daichiro said letting go of Seisuke's arm.

'But…'

'Look, street racing is all he's got left,' Daichiro explained, 'he knows how far he can push himself and if he gets to that point, he will stop racing himself.'

Seisuke looked at him and then at the other two guys who were part of the Kanto Kaisers, then he glanced at Kizuna who shrugged her shoulders seeming to be even less sure about what to do than he was.

'Alright,' he finally said, 'but Aniki's not going to be happy when he finds out.'

While this happened, Kyosuke continued his uphill race almost entirely by himself for it had been a while since he'd lost sight of the bright yellow Mitsubishi. Thankfully he knew better than to let himself be worried about that so he just kept racing using a trick he hadn't used in a very long time: imagining that he had his father's FC in front of him.

Then when he had just passed the midpoint of the race, he started feeling some weird vibration coming from the RZ-1's rotary engine.

'What the…' he muttered to himself and was about to pay more attention to it something else distracted his attention: the radio.

'Kyosuke-san, this is Masato.'

'What's up?' Kyosuke asked as he felt himself getting increasingly worried about his car's engine.

'It's Fujimoto,' Masato said, 'he's stopped his car a few corners from here.'

'He's what?' Kyosuke half shouted.

'Izawa's gone to see what's happened to him,' Masato said.

Kyosuke didn't think twice as he slammed the brake pedal to stop the car then, doing a three point turn, he started driving downhill.

'SEISUKE!' he shouted hoping that his younger brother was somewhere near his car.

'We've just heard,' Kyosuke heard him say, 'I'm on my way up.'

'Great, I'll see you there.'

I hope, Kyosuke added mentally for the RZ-1's engine seemed to refuse to go over a certain amount of revs per minute, clearly indicating that something was very wrong with it.

'Don't give up on me just yet,' he begged his six year old car but, by the time he finally saw the bright yellow Mitsubishi, Kyosuke realised that his car was moving almost exclusively due to the fact that it was going downhill.

Because of this, he decided to spare the poor malfunctioning engine from its agony by pulling the RZ-1 over to the side of the road where he parked it. He then climbed out of it so he could cover the short distance which separated him from the X-2 on foot.

'What's going on?' he asked to Izawa who was already there with other people as they all tried to get the Mitsubishi's driver's door open.

'I don't know,' his team mate replied, 'he's not moving,' he pointed at a seemingly unconscious Fujimoto.

'Shit,' Kyosuke muttered then, without thinking twice, he removed the light jumper he was wearing and, pushing everyone out of the way, he rolled the garment around his elbow and after smashing the window with it, he finally managed to get the door open.

'Fujimoto!' Kyosuke exclaimed as he freed the older guy from his seatbelt, 'can you hear me?'

He saw as Fujimoto's eyelids flickered then Kyosuke heard someone running towards them.

'Aniki, let me handle this,' Seisuke said as he gently moved him out of the way.

'What are you doing?' Kyosuke asked seeing that his younger brother was searching for something inside the pockets of Fujimoto's denim jacket.

'He's very sick,' Seisuke explained as he extracted a small flask containing some medicine then, taking a syringe form his first aid kid, he took a bit of the liquid, mixed it with what looked like water and then injected it into Fujimoto's arm.

'I take you know what you're doing,' Kyosuke said sounding slightly freaked out.

'I do,' Seisuke replied, 'an ambulance should be here any minute now but this should make sure his heart doesn't stop.'

'Why would it?' a startled Kyosuke asked.

'He's got a heart condition,' Daichiro explained for the second time that night.

'What!' Kyosuke exclaimed, his shock copying that of the rest of the crowd gathered there.

'You need to understand this,' Daichiro said, 'Fujimoto wanted to race the Golden Arrows more than anything in the world. He's always said that the other races were just a warm up because our real target was beating you guys in your home turf.'

'But…'

'He's waking up,' Seisuke announced causing everyone to let out a sigh of relief, 'don't move,' the doctor-in-training ordered seeing that Fujimoto was trying to climb out of his car.

'My medicine…'

'I've already given it to you,' Seisuke said, 'we've also called an ambulance so just relax, okay? You're going to be fine.'

'Thanks,' Fujimoto whispered weakly.

'I'm just doing my job,' Seisuke said.

Kyosuke looked at his younger brother not being able to remember a time when he'd felt any prouder of him then, glancing at his nearly broken-down RZ-1, he said to Daichiro:

'We should call this a draw.'

'What are you talking about?' Daichiro asked, 'if it hadn't been…'

'I was going to stop too,' Kyosuke said and that made Seisuke and Kizuna look at him eye-widen, 'there's something wrong with the engine,' he explained to them, 'I seriously doubt I would have made it to the summit.'

'It doesn't matter,' Daichiro said, 'your brother has beaten me so that was the end of the Kanto Kaisers, wasn't it?' he asked looking at Fujimoto who nodded to that.

'What do you mean?' Seisuke asked.

'We were going to quit racing the day we found someone who could beat us,' Daichiro explained.

'And we've found them,' Fujimoto whispered, still sounding desperately feeble.

'But…' Kyosuke started.

'You better go now,' Daichiro said, 'get your people out of here before the ambulance comes.'

'What about Fujimoto?' Seisuke asked.

'I'll take care of him,' Daichiro replied then, allowing himself a smile, he added, 'you guys are truly great. I do hope you won't quit racing for a long time because we'd like to keep an eye on you.'

'We won't,' Kyosuke assured him, 'and thank you for racing us,' he added looking at Fujimoto who, again, just nodded.

After making sure that his RZ-1 was out of the way so he could take a look at it later, Kyosuke climbed into Kizuna's Nissan so they could all drive to the summit where Akito and the rest of the Golden Arrows were already waiting for them.

'Winning like this doesn't really feel like winning,' Kyosuke commented miserably.

'I agree,' Kizuna said sounding as sad as her fiancé did.

_To be continued…_


	22. Chapter Twenty One

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Twenty One_

The morning after the race, Kyosuke and Kizuna drove one of the towing trucks the Takahashi family owned to the corner where he had parked his RZ-1 after its engine had started failing and once there, the two of them only managed to get the confirmation that the car wasn't going to go anywhere on its own four tyres.

'Baby, I think you should give it up,' Kizuna suggested seeing that the RZ-1's engine simply refused to turn itself on no matter how hard Kyosuke tried to start it.

'Shit,' Kyosuke breathed in frustration as he got out of his car so he could get its bonnet open then, taking a look at the engine and fiddling around with it for a short while, he decided to surrender to the inevitable:

'The engine's gone,' he said with such a horribly sad tone of voice that Kizuna felt her heart cringing.

'Hey, I'm sure we'll find a way to fix the RZ-1 up,' she said putting her hand on his arm while trying to convey as much reassurance as possible.

'Yeah,' Kyosuke replied not sounding very convinced, 'let's just get it on the truck,' he added closing the bonnet's cover, passing his hand over his face as he tried to remove a bit of the anguish he felt from it.

'Yes, let's do that,' Kizuna said.

Fifteen minutes later, they were again on their way to the Takahashi Motorsports Centre where they would keep the car until they figured out a way to start fixing it. During the trip and seeing Kyosuke's downcast expression made Kizuna decide not to say anything at all for she knew that in the very rare occasions when her fiancé was in that state it was better to leave him alone.

'What the…' he said as they entered the centre's car park.

'What's up?' she asked anxiously but she answered to her own question when she saw the white Mazda sedan which belonged to Kyosuke's father.

'Great,' the Golden Arrows leader complained, 'of all days in the world, he had to choose today to pay a visit to the centre.'

'Your brother's also here,' Kizuna informed him pointing at the white version of the car they were currently towing into the centre.

'This is just brilliant,' Kyosuke said dryly, 'what's this, a freaking family reunion?'

Once again Kizuna chose to remain silent as they finally parked the truck next to one of the centre's workshops and after turning the truck's engine off, Kyosuke and Kizuna climbed out of it and were about to start downloading the car when the garage's automatic door opened on its own.

'SURPRISE!' Seisuke shouted happily.

Two flabbergasted Kyosuke and Kizuna saw that inside the workshop, besides Seisuke, there were the two brothers' father and uncle along with Fumihiro and Kenta.

'Dad?' Kyosuke said, 'what are you…'

'Seisuke's told us what happened,' Ryosuke replied, 'and we thought you'd appreciate a hand.'

'This way we may be able to get your car fixed within today,' Keisuke added.

'Uncle Keisuke,' Kyosuke said frowning worriedly, 'the engine's gone, I…'

'Of course it is,' Ryosuke said.

'Dad…'

'Kyosuke,' his father interrupted him, 'that engine was nearly six years old and, let's face it, after everything you and your brother usually put your cars through, it was nothing short of a miracle that it didn't blow up a lot sooner than this.'

'It wouldn't have happened if I had stopped earlier,' Kyosuke insisted.

'Son,' Ryosuke said putting his hand on his son's shoulder, 'the fact that you stopped when you did probably saved the rest of the car. You're really lucky it's only the engine which was damaged.'

'That's what I said to you last night, isn't it?' Seisuke asked.

'What are we going to do?' Kyosuke asked, choosing to ignore his younger brother's reproaching tone of voice.

'We're going to replace it, of course,' Ryosuke replied.

'What with? I mean…'

'We've got that covered too,' Keisuke replied pointing at something which was literally covered by a large piece of cloth.

'Do I want to know what's down there?' Kyosuke asked looking happy but uncertain at the same time.

'Oh,' Seisuke said, 'Aniki, trust me on this one: you definitely want to know.'

'Shall we let Kizuna do the honours?' Fumihiro asked looking at Kyosuke who, not really knowing what else to so, just nodded at him, 'Kizuna, if you please,' Ryosuke's best friend said indicating at the piece of cloth.

Kizuna exchanged a brief look with Kyosuke then, taking a few hesitant steps, she grabbed one of the corners of the cloth which was covering the new engine and pulled it towards her.

'WOW!' Kyosuke gasped so loudly that it covered Kizuna's own surprised one, 't-that…that's a…'

'A RENESIS-II Twin Turbo prepared for the GT500 championship,' Ryosuke supplied looking immensely amused seeing the way his older son was stuttering.

'It's one of the prototypes Mazda have been working on,' Kenta explained, 'and we've offered ourselves to help with the testing.'

'B-but…where did you…'

'I'm afraid we can't disclose our sources just yet,' Keisuke said clearly enjoying himself nearly as much as Ryosuke.

'I can't believe this…'

'You better do,' Fujimoto said, 'because we're only here to help you doing your job.'

'Speaking of which,' Ryosuke added, 'we better get started, I haven't told your mother I was going to come here.'

'Yes Aniki,' Keisuke said to his older brother, 'we definitely don't want Akiko to find out you're slacking off because of this.'

'I'm not slacking off,' the doctor protested.

'Aniki,' Keisuke interrupted him, 'we both know how much you've been missing messing around with cars.'

'Let's just get to work, okay?' Ryosuke said but the tiny smile he gave to his younger brother confirmed that the older of the original set of Takahashi brothers was very much looking forward to start working on the brand new, still shiny engine.

While all four Takahashi, Kenta, Fumihiro and Kizuna busied themselves with the repairs of Kyosuke's RZ-1, Akito and his father were on their way back to their home coming from one of their visits to the tofu shop Bunta Fujiwara still refused to close down.

'I can't believe the old man,' Akito said smiling at his father as they were onboard the aging AE86 down one of Shibukawa's main roads.

'I can,' Takumi countered, 'he gets more stubborn as he gets older.'

'He reminds me of someone I know,' Akito said with a cheeky grin.

'Do you want to walk home?' Takumi countered almost making the nineteen year old regret having said anything at all.

'Geez man, I can't even joke with you anymore,' Akito complained then, more to change topic than anything else, he asked, 'did you hear about what happened to Kyosuke's car?'

'I did,' Takumi replied, 'Keisuke told me this morning.'

'Ah,' Akito said, 'I didn't know you two had already spoken.'

'We had things to discuss,' Takumi explained.

'About Hiroki?' Akito asked obviously surprising his father for he turned his head sharply to look at him before returning his attention to the road.

'Akito,' Takumi started, 'I want you to…'

'Did you get in touch with him?' Akito asked interrupting his father.

'No,' Takumi replied, 'I only managed to speak to his father.'

'And?' Akito asked.

'Suetsugu said that Hiroki's moved out from their house.'

'He's what?' Akito exclaimed, 'when?'

'They're not too sure,' Takumi replied, 'he just left taking a few of his things with him and most of the money he made with us and with his new team.'

'You don't think he's with that Hashimoto guy, do you?'

'Most likely,' Takumi replied then, looking at Akito, he added, 'I really don't want to think about how Suetsugu and his wife must have felt when they found out their kid was gone so promise to me that, whatever happens, you will never do anything like that...'

'I promise,' Akito said very seriously.

'Good,' Takumi said, 'in any case, I don't want you to worry about this.'

'But…'

'Akito,' Takumi interrupted his son, 'where's the next race?'

'What?'

'You heard me,' Takumi said.

'Dad, you know it's our home race,' Akito replied suddenly feeling confused.

'That's right. And where are we racing?' Takumi asked.

'In the Suzu…ah, I see…'

'I hope you do see,' Takumi said, 'because I'd hate to remind you what happened last time you raced in Suzuka and the reason why it did happen.'

'Dad, come on…'

'Akito,' he interrupted his son again, 'I want you to promise me that you're going to be focusing all your attention on the race and nothing else but the race and that you will let me and Keisuke handle the whole Hiroki situation.'

The nineteen year old looked at his father and nodding once, he said:

'Fine, I promise.'

'Great,' Takumi said, 'now, let's get home so we can get the stuff for this afternoon's practice session.'

Half an hour before Takumi and his son were scheduled to arrive and after having worked on it for most of the morning and part of the early afternoon, Kyosuke found himself behind the wheel of his RZ-1 with everyone staring at him as he went to turn the key in the ignition and with Kizuna literally holding her breath as he did so.

'It'll be fine, you'll see,' Keisuke said to her.

'You've done an excellent job,' Ryosuke added and Kizuna couldn't help but to feel about ten centimetres taller hearing such an important person praising her work.

At long last, Kyosuke turned the engine on and the incredibly loud roar it came out of it made everyone gasp while the twenty four year old man tried to keep his arms from shaking due to the strong vibrations which were making the whole car tremble.

'WOW!' he exclaimed happily.

'We still have to fine-tune it and finish installing the new gauges,' Ryosuke explained, 'but I'd say it sounds good enough.'

'Good enough?' Kyosuke asked his father raising his eyebrows in disbelief, 'Dad: it's freaking fantastic!'

'It's great,' Kizuna agreed as she stared at his fiancé's car with an almost jealous look on her face.

'Geez,' Seisuke added finally recovering from the shock, 'if I had known about this engine earlier, I would have blown my RZ-1's ages ago.'

That made everyone burst out laughing then, as they all made way for Kyosuke to roll the car out of the garage so he could go and test the new engine's limits, Kizuna said:

'I can't wait to see Akito's face when he sees it.'

'Me neither,' Seisuke agreed and when three days later the whole Takawara Racing Team gathered to travel south to the Suzuka International Racing Course in the Mie prefecture, he and his older brother had the huge pleasure of seeing Akito get almost green with envy when Kyosuke showed to him what his new-and-improved car could do.

'It's not fair,' Akito complained to his father as the two of them walked with Ryoko into the paddock area of the circuit.

'What's not fair?' Takumi asked frowning at his son.

'Kyosuke's car' Akito replied, 'after what he's done to it, I'd say we definitely need to work on mine…'

'Isn't it fast enough already?' Ryoko asked him.

'No car can ever be fast enough,' Akito replied to her.

'I'll tell you what,' Takumi said, 'as soon as we get back home I'll talk to your grandfather to see if we can do something to improve your V-86.'

'Great!' Akito said while the poor Ryoko tried her best to look as enthusiastic as possible.

Then and after the two Fujiwara joined the rest of the team inside their box, Ryoko, Seisuke and Misa walked upstairs to one of the lounges the teams had reserved for their guests.

'What's up with you?' Seisuke asked her as soon as they were comfortably sitting at one of the tables set for them.

'I'm a bit worried,' Ryoko replied.

'Why?' Misa asked as she stirred her soft drink with a couple of straws.

'I don't know,' the other girl replied, 'I just have this…feeling…'

'What feeling?' Seisuke asked grabbing a few peanuts from a paper dish he had in front of him.

'I don't know,' Ryoko repeated, 'I can't…I just don't know what it is but I have a very bad feeling about this race.'

Seisuke and Misa stared at her for a bit before the doctor-in-training, using his most serious tone of voice, said:

'Look, do you know how extremely low are the odds of having Akito crashing in the same circuit two years in a row?'

'I know that, it's just that…'

'Does this have anything to do with Hiroki?' Misa asked looking rather concerned too.

'I don't know,' Ryoko replied, 'but, I just can't help thinking that something bad is going to happen to Akito.'

'Ryoko, I honestly don't think Hiroki's going to do anything weird in front of so many people,' Seisuke said, 'not even he's that stupid,' he added.

'Akito will be fine, you'll see,' Misa said putting her hand on top of Ryoko's.

'Yes, he'll probably be,' Ryoko replied then, sighing exasperatedly, she added, 'just forget it, I think I'm getting over paranoid.'

'Yeah, that's probably it,' Seisuke agreed and with this the three of them decided to steer the conversation away from this topic as they started talking about the projects both Misa and Seisuke had for their apartment.

Meanwhile, the object of their discussion was walking out of the Takawara Team's motorhome followed by his team mate.

'Uh-oh,' Kojiro said.

'What?' Akito asked but he answered to his own question when he saw Hiroki stepping out of his own team's motorhome.

'What are you going to do?' Kojiro whispered to him.

'Nothing,' Akito replied, 'I've promised to my father that I would let him and Keisuke-san handle the situation.'

'That's excellent,' Kojiro said sounding so incredibly relieved that Akito couldn't help but to start laughing.

'I can't believe you guys,' Akito started after calming down, 'what do you all think I'm going to do? Go and beat the crap out of him until he starts being reasonable?'

'Er…' the eighteen year old hesitated.

'Oh gosh,' Akito said, 'you really think that's what I'm going to do, isn't it?'

'Well…you know…'

'Kojiro, I already did that once and look at where it's brought us,' Akito said now looking very serious, 'if it hadn't been because of that…'

'Look,' his team mate interrupted him, 'I don't know much about what happened between you guys but I do know that what he did to Ryoko made him deserve what he got.'

'What?' Akito exclaimed looking at his team mate eye-widen.

'Don't look at me like that,' Kojiro said, 'I would do the same thing you did if anyone went anywhere near Isabelle.'

'Wow,' Akito gasped, 'I didn't see that one coming.'

'Why not?' Kojiro asked.

'Er…it's just that you're…you know…'

'Hey,' Kojiro complained, 'I know I may not look like it but I can get quite mad if someone ticks me off badly enough.'

'Heavens help whoever does that because, as far as I'm concerned, I would get pretty freaked out if I ever saw you getting really angry,' Akito commented.

Kojiro just shook his head as he smiled at his team mate then, as both drivers made their way back to the Takawara Racing Team's box, Keisuke and Takumi had just spotted Hiroki walking across the paddock area and as the two men started hurrying towards the young man, Keisuke called out his name.

'Oh, Keisuke-san,' Hiroki said faking an enthusiasm he clearly didn't feel then, using a rather cynical tone of voice, he added, 'I was under the impression you didn't want to be anywhere near me.'

'We need to talk to you,' Takumi said.

'You're in a lot of trouble,' Keisuke added.

'Oh please,' Hiroki started, waving his hand dismissively, 'if this is about my parents…'

'It's not only about that,' Takumi said, 'your team is using you to…'

'Hiroki-kun, are these two bothering you?' they then heard a more adult voice say and as Takumi and Keisuke turned round, they saw a man about fifteen years younger than they were.

'No Hashimoto-san, they were just wishing me luck for this race,' Hiroki lied and Ken Hashimoto just let out a mirthless chuckle.

'He doesn't need luck,' he said, 'he's good enough to beat the pants off both of your drivers.'

'Hey…' Keisuke started.

'Now,' Hashimoto interrupted him as he spoke to Hiroki, 'are you ready?'

'Yes, I am,' Hiroki replied.

'Let's go then, the guys are waiting for you.'

'Sure,' Hiroki said and then, completely ignoring his previous employers, he just walked towards his box with Hashimoto following him very closely.

'Do you see why it's necessary that you do what we've discussed?' Hashimoto asked him as soon as they were out of Takumi and Keisuke's hearing range.

'Yeah,' Hiroki replied.

'So, are you going to do it?' Hashimoto insisted.

'I'll do it,' Hiroki replied, 'I won't let him finish the race and that's a promise.'

'Good boy,' Hashimoto said patting him on his shoulder.

_To be continued…_


	23. Chapter Twenty Two

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Twenty Two_

On race day, all twenty six GP2 drivers woke up to find clear skies and not the thunderstorm the latest weather report had predicted, once more ruining all the work the engineers had done over the weekend in order to prepare their cars for the supposedly wet conditions, making most of them very unhappy indeed, unlike the event's organisers since they knew that with such a sunny day, they would get a lot more public to come and watch the race.

However, the man who was driving his car into the circuit's inner car park didn't care too much about either for Tohru Suetsugu had come to Suzuka with the sole intention of trying to talk to his son.

'I'm glad you made it,' Takumi said to the man who'd been his rival for just one race.

'I'm really grateful you sent me this,' Tohru replied pointing at the all-zone's pass the Takawara Racing Team had got for him.

'We're very sorry things didn't work out with your son,' Keisuke countered.

'You don't need to apologise,' Tohru said, 'I know my son well enough.'

'Still, we…' Takumi started.

'I better go,' Tohru interrupted him and with that, he just walked away from the two team managers who watched him go with equally worried expressions on their faces.

Finally and after wandering around the paddock area trying to find the Kobita Racing Team's motorhome, Hiroki's father spotted the twenty year old racer next to a bright orange truck, talking to a man in his mid-thirties and another one who looked to be a lot older than Tohru himself was.

'Hiroki,' he shouted.

'Dad?' Hiroki said and for a micro-second, the young man seemed pleased to seeing his father there then, changing expression very quickly and using his coldest tone of voice, he asked, 'what are you doing here?'

'I need to talk to…'

'Excuse me,' the older of the two men said.

'Yes?' Tohru asked.

'How did you get in here?' the older man asked.

'Er…' Tohru hesitated, 'I've got this,' he then replied pointing at the pass which hung from his neck.

'Ah, I see…'

'Where did you get that from?' Hiroki asked to his father eyeing the plastic card suspiciously.

'A couple of friends sent it to me,' Tohru replied, 'Hiroki, I really need to have a word with you.'

'Whatever you need to say, you can say it in front of them,' Hiroki said rather stubbornly.

'Please, son…'

'I think Hiroki-kun's been quite clear,' the younger of the two unknown men said.

'Who in the heck are you?' Tohru finally asked.

'I'm Hashimoto Ken,' the guy replied, 'and this is Kobita Shin, Hiroki-kun's team manager.'

Tohru looked at the hand Hashimoto was offering him and, refusing to shake it, he said:

'Well, I'm his father and I think I have the right to talk to him if…'

'Last time I checked,' Kobita interrupted him, 'Hiroki-kun was of age and therefore, able to choose whoever he wants to speak to.'

'What?' Tohru exclaimed with a strained tone of voice.

'Dad…'

'Hiroki,' Tohru started, 'do you have any idea of what you're putting us through?'

'Dad…'

'Your mother's been crying herself to sleep every night since you left home,' he continued, 'and you're killing me with worry.'

'Hiroki-kun's happy,' Hashimoto said.

'I'm the one who'll decide that, if you don't mind,' Tohru interrupted him using a rather menacing tone of voice, 'Hiroki...please,' he then begged staring at his son with such an anguished look on his face that it made the twenty year old feel pretty torn.

'Kobita-san,' Hiroki said, 'I'll just be a couple of minutes, okay?'

The old man looked rather surprised by this but he was very careful to hide that emotion from his face rather quickly.

'Fine,' Kobita replied, 'but after that I don't want him anywhere near the box. You know what the team policy is…'

'I do,' Hiroki said, 'don't worry: he'll go home straight after this.'

Tohru was going to contradict his son but something told him that it was better if he remained silent then, at long last, the two men started walking away from Hiroki leaving father and son alone.

'What in the heck are you thinking, coming like this, unannounced?' the twenty years old said, 'you know that Kobita-san doesn't want any family members around…'

'That's just bullshit and you know it,' Tohru said, 'Takumi and Keisuke never had that kind of rule.'

'Of course not,' Hiroki countered, 'they're not a proper team, they've never been and never will be.'

'Are these your words or Kobita-san's?' Tohru countered.

'What are you doing here?' Hiroki asked instead of replying to his father's question.

'I've come here to ask you to please come back home,' Tohru replied, 'you really are making us suffer a lot.'

'Why?' Hiroki asked, 'I'm happy with Ken-san, he's a great man.'

'Hiroki, you've known him for five minutes!' Tohru exclaimed desperately, 'you can't possibly say that…'

'Dad,' Hiroki interrupted him, 'I'm not coming back home. Ken-san knows what's good for me and he really knows what I need to do to make it big in racing.'

'Is that so?' Tohru asked sarcastically, 'is leaving your home without telling us first part of the fantastic plan this guy's got to boost your career?'

'Dad…'

'Son, I don't know what those guys have told you but I do know that there isn't an easy way for anything and, what's more important, no one does anything for anybody without wanting something in return.'

Hiroki's expression seemed to betray something for his father looked even more worried as he asked:

'Have they asked you to do something weird?'

'No,' the twenty year old hurried to reply, 'of course not,' he added.

'Good,' Tohru said not looking very convinced, 'because remember that this isn't street racing: if you do something which breaks the regulations, the FIA will have your license and you'll have to pay a fine. Keep that in mind, will you?'

'Dad…'

'Just promise to me that you'll think about it,' Tohru insisted.

'I will,' Hiroki replied, 'but I'm not coming back home.'

'But your mother…'

'I'm sorry,' Hiroki interrupted him, 'I've got to go now.'

With that and without giving Tohru any time to say anything else, the twenty year old walked away from his father leaving him feeling more anxious than ever then, deciding that he wasn't going to do any good by staying there looking very much like a fool, Tohru made his way back to where the Takawara Racing Team had their box.

'Any luck?' Takumi asked seeing the man outside of their door.

'No,' Tohru replied, 'I think I'll head home now, I…'

'Why don't you stay?' Keisuke said joining the two other men.

'That's right,' Takumi added, 'after all, you do have a pass, maybe you'd like to watch your son's race.'

'I would like that, yes,' Tohru said still looking very concerned, 'at least I'll be able to see if he does anything stupid.'

'Do you think he's going to?' Takumi asked trying to keep a neutral tone of voice.

'Who knows,' Tohru replied then, trying to break the uncomfortable silence which had fallen upon the three men, Keisuke suggested him to join Ryoko, Seisuke and Misa in the lounge to watch the race with them.

'That'd be good,' Tohru replied and as he left the garage to go to the first floor, Takumi and Keisuke glanced at each other looking almost as worried as Hiroki's father was.

'We better tell Akito to watch his back,' Keisuke muttered as Takumi just nodded.

A few hours later, the two cars belonging to the Takawara Racing Team positioned themselves on the second and third place Akito and Kojiro had obtained during their qualifying session, just behind of the red Supernova driven by a Brazilian racer who had managed to steal the pole from Akito during the last few seconds of the session.

'Don't worry about him,' Kyosuke told his best friend kneeling next to Akito's car and pointing at the bright orange car which was parked immediately behind him.

'I'm not worried about Hiroki,' the nineteen year old replied, 'I'm just dying to put as much distance as possible between him and me.'

'Okay, whatever happens, try and keep to the strategy we've planned out together, okay?' Kyosuke asked.

'Kojiro's going to be rather surprised,' Akito replied allowing himself a grin.

'Be careful, okay?' Kyosuke said.

'Hey,' Akito complained, 'it's Ryoko's prerogative to say that to me and I don't want to hear it from anyone else.'

'My baby cousin has you under her thumb, doesn't she?' Kyosuke asked him with half a smile.

'Look who's talking,' Akito countered pointing at Kizuna who was currently talking to Kojiro.

'Ha-ha, very funny,' Kyosuke said humourlessly but then, deciding it was time for Akito to start concentrating on the race, he left the racer alone so he could check that his helmet and HANS device were properly secured to his head and neck before he would slip his gloves on.

After that, Akito followed the red Supernova in what was the race's formation lap, taking several deep breaths which helped him to reach the maximum level of concentration his brain was capable and by the time he got back into his spot on the grid, Akito's mind was entirely focused on nothing else but his car and the track ahead of him.

At long last and with the engines of all twenty six cars roaring so loudly that it was impossible to stand there without earplugs, the lights turned green and all the racers started doing what they were paid to do: get ahead as fast as they could.

Except that Akito had other plans so, as soon as he saw the car in front of him speeding up, he veered sharply towards the inside of the track positioning his car between that of Hiroki, who had kept his fourth place, and Kojiro who because of this had advanced into the second position.

'Akito, what are you doing?' he heard his father ask through the radio.

'Tell Kojiro that this is my way to say sorry for the last race,' Akito managed to reply all the while trying to keep Hiroki firmly behind him while he fought to clear the highly critical first corner.

Then, as he did so and as Akito saw that Kojiro was already chasing after the Supernova, he heard Keisuke's highly amused voice say:

'Kojiro says thanks.'

'No problem,' Akito said then, he started putting into practice the strategy he and Kyosuke had devised.

His job was to block Hiroki to allow free reign to Kojiro to attack as much as he wanted the Brazilian driver of the Supernova Team for Akito, and despite the fact he knew that Hiroki could try any of his dirty tricks on him, was very much determined to make sure that his team mate could win his maiden race in Japan.

Nevertheless and as they covered lap after lap, Akito's concern decreased as the distance between his car and that of Hiroki increased and by the time he was finally called into the boxes for his first pit stop, the nineteen year old started believing that maybe, after all, Hiroki wasn't going to do anything strange.

Because of this and after the Takawara Racing Team had performed yet another excellently coordinated refuelling operation, as Akito re-entered the race in seventh position with only two of the cars ahead of him having stopped too, he allowed himself the chance to relax and start enjoying the race for the first time since it had started.

He was about to start overtaking one of the lapped cars he had ahead of him when he heard something which made his blood freeze in his veins:

'Oh no…'

It was Kyosuke's highly distressed voice and Akito knew that whatever was happening it had made the older of his two best friends feel so concerned that he had forgot that his radio channel was constantly switched on to Akito's frequency.

'What's up?' he asked Kyosuke.

'Oh gosh…'

'Kyosuke!' Akito exclaimed as he tried to keep his car on the line he wanted it to go, forgetting all about the slower car he had in front of him.

'Hiroki,' Kyosuke said, 'I thought he would crash against Kojiro's car!'

'What?' Akito shouted and this time his car veered quite visibly.

'It's really weird,' Kyosuke explained, 'it seemed like that but then Hiroki slowed down for no apparent reason.'

'Kyosuke, you're not making any sense,' Akito said not really liking the way any of what he was hearing.

'Forget it,' Kyosuke ordered, 'you need to concentrate on the race…'

'Fuck the race!' Akito shouted, 'I need to know what's going on.'

'We're calling Kojiro in,' Kyosuke said, 'don't worry about it anymore.'

Even though he was most unhappy, Akito decided to obey to his Chief Engineer's orders making himself a mental note to ask his team to show him the footage of the whole incident the minute he stepped out of his car at the end of this crazy race.

When twenty four laps after, and for the first time ever since he'd started racing in the GP2, Akito managed to cross the Suzuka's finish line he wasn't entirely thrilled to find out about the fact that Kojiro had had to give up the first place in favour of the PIAA-Tanaka driven by the guy who'd replaced Akito the year before and this almost made him forget about his not very flattering third position.

'Second again,' Kojiro said happily as soon as he and Akito climbed out of their cars.

'You're happy with that?' Akito asked disbelievingly.

'I am,' Kojiro said, 'it's only my third race and I've been on the podium twice in a row…'

Akito shook his head unable to help himself but to smile at his ever optimistic team mate then, remembering about what had happened during the race, he asked:

'What did Hiroki try to do?'

'It was really weird,' Kojiro replied, 'it seemed like he wanted to push me out of the track then, it looked as though as he changed his mind half way through the manoeuvre.'

'Are you sure about that?' Akito asked.

'As sure as I can be,' Kojiro said shrugging his shoulders and Akito was going to ask him something else when he realised that they were literally surrounded by hundreds of people so this was hardly the place to start an in-depth discussion about Hiroki who, by the way, had finished in sixth position.

Soon, Akito and Kojiro found themselves ushered onto the podium where Akito had the bittersweet experience of witnessing as his former employee was awarded the two main trophies of the race but, doing his best to show that there were no hard feelings between the two of them, Akito bowed his head towards Tanaka-san who smiled at him then, after the five minutes ceremony was over and as Akito was about to step out of the podium to go to the press conference, he saw something out of the corner of his eye.

'What the…' he muttered.

'Akito?' Kojiro asked him.

'Shit!' Akito exclaimed then, knowing that he didn't have any time to waste, he said, 'Hiroki's in trouble.'

'What?' Kojiro asked sounding utterly confused, 'where are you going?' he then asked seeing that Akito had every intention of getting away as fast as he could.

'There,' Akito replied indicating at some point in the paddock area where Kojiro finally saw that Hiroki was, obviously against his will, being half carried by two huge guys towards a deserted sector of the circuit.

'What about the press conference?' Kojiro asked.

'Screw that,' Akito replied, 'go and get help, I'll see what I can do.'

With that, and ignoring the protests from a couple of the circuit's officials, Akito started running down the stairs leaving a very worried Kojiro behind.

'What's going on?' Tanaka-san asked him.

'I'm not too sure,' Kojiro replied, 'but could you please tell the journalists we're going to be a bit late?'

Clearly not understanding anything, Tanaka-san just nodded at that and with that Kojiro took too while the British driver, not speaking a word of Japanese, looked even more confused than his team manager did.

While Kojiro ran towards Keisuke and Takumi, Akito had finally managed to cross the whole paddock area avoiding all the fans and journalists who populated it, to get to some sort of warehouse around the corner of which Akito had seen the two thugs take Hiroki.

'Hey guys come on,' Akito heard him say sounding rather desperate for the two much older and bigger men had him pinned against the brick wall with one of them pressing his fist against Hiroki's neck.

'You had a very clear set of instructions,' one of the thugs said.

'But you still didn't seem to understand them very well, did you?' the other one added.

'We're here to make sure you…'

'Hey!' Akito finally shouted running towards them.

'Who in the fuck are you?' one of the thugs roared.

The rest happened too quickly for anyone to fully realise what was going on: as Akito went to grab the arm of the guy who had his fist pressed onto Hiroki's throat, he tripped over something on the ground and some sort of instinct made Akito grasp himself onto the thug who, taken by surprise, turned around all of a sudden.

'Akito!' Hiroki shouted with an unnaturally high pitch of voice then, without any kind of previous warning, Akito felt something very sharp press against his stomach as it pierced his suit first then his own flesh.

'W-wha…' Akito gasped feeling unexpectedly out of breath then he stared at the thug first before he looked down and he saw a medium sized knife with more than half its tip inserted into him.

'Holy shit!' the brute exclaimed as he jumped away from Akito, making the young racer fall knees first onto the ground.

'What have you done?' the other one shouted hysterically.

'I-I-I d-don't know, h-he f-f-fell…' the first thug stuttered staring at Akito with his eyes opened as far as they went.

'FUCK!' his mate screamed and grabbing the one who had accidentally stabbed Akito, he roared, 'LET'S GO!'

Then the two thugs started running leaving both racers there with a panicked Hiroki unable to do anything else than to fix his eyes on his badly wounded ex-team mate as a quickly weakening Akito dropped onto his right side with one of his hands hovering over the knife as though as he was unsure about what to do with it.

'Here you are!' Hiroki suddenly heard someone say and that made him look up from Akito to see that Kojiro was there with most of the members of the Takawara Racing Team behind him.

If that wasn't reason enough to do so, seeing the horror-struck look on Ryoko's otherwise beautiful face made Hiroki copy the two thugs as he started running away too.

_To be continued…_


	24. Chapter Twenty Three

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Twenty Three_

The first one to react was Keisuke who, without stopping to think twice and acting out of sheer instinct, started running after Hiroki. Only then Takumi and Ryoko rushed towards where Akito was and, before he hurried to join them, Seisuke turned round to his older brother and said:

'Aniki, go and get help, I'll see if there's anything I can do.'

'Okay,' Kyosuke replied as he and Kizuna ran back to the paddock area where they hoped they would find one of the circuit's officials or, what would be even better, one of the doctors who usually wandered around the place. Misa and Kojiro remained where they were, unsure as to what they could do to help Akito.

'Please do something,' Ryoko pleaded to her cousin as the three of them knelt next to her boyfriend.

'I don't think there's much I could do,' Seisuke confessed trying to remain calm.

Gently, he pushed Akito's hand away from the knife to see that while it's blade had indeed pierced his body, the cut was very clean and Akito wasn't bleeding anywhere near as much as Seisuke feared he would. He was trying to figure out what to do when, Akito spoke with a horribly weak sounding voice:

'Hiroki…'

'Don't worry about him, son,' Takumi said with a strangled sounding one, 'Keisuke will take care of him.'

'No…' Akito tried again.

'Akito,' Seisuke said, 'please try to relax, Aniki's gone to get help.'

'It hurts,' Akito whimpered while pointing at the knife with a very shaky hand but, as Takumi was about to take it out, Seisuke grabbed the older man's arm and, shaking his head, he said:

'Takumi-san, we shouldn't remove it.'

'Why not?' Ryoko asked, 'it's hurting him…' she added almost sobbing.

'Ryoko, the knife is acting as a plug,' Seisuke explained, 'if we take it out now, it will only make things worse.'

'D-dad,' Akito breathed and, noticing that he was starting to see black spots in front of him, clearly indicating that he was about to faint, he sounded even more urgent as he tried to explain what had really happened, 'Hiroki…'

'Son, I've already told you,' Takumi interrupted his son, 'don't worry about him.'

'It's important…Hiroki…he…' Akito insisted but then, he coughed a couple of times causing such an intense wave of pain that he felt himself drifting away. Then everything became black.

'AKITO!' Takumi shouted sounding so anguished that it made everyone flinch.

'No…no…please…' Ryoko started muttering as she shook her boyfriend, 'wake up…please…'

'Ryoko…' Seisuke started only to get interrupted by Kyosuke and Kizuna's sudden arrival with a couple of male paramedics running after them.

'What's going on in here?' one of the paramedics asked but, since the answer was clear enough, he and his partner started working on Akito's wound, making sure that the knife was secured before loading him onto the stretcher.

'We'll take him to the clinic straightaway,' the other paramedic said, 'you can explain whatever's happened in here to the police after we take care of him.'

Five minutes later, Akito was taken into the clinic's operation theatre while Takumi, Ryoko and the two Takahashi brothers with their partners listened to what Kojiro had to say about what he and Akito had seen from the podium.

'Are you sure about this?' Takumi asked him.

'I am,' Kojiro replied, 'it definitely looked bad enough, otherwise and to be honest, I doubt Akito would have taken the trouble to go and help Hiroki.'

'That's true,' Seisuke agreed.

'And let's be reasonable,' Kyosuke added, 'despite everything he's done in the past, I don't think Hiroki would be stupid enough to do something as bad as this.'

'Why did he run away then?' Ryoko asked everyone not even bothering with hiding her accusative tone from her voice.

'I don't know,' Kojiro replied.

'I guess he kind of freaked out,' Misa said speaking for the first time.

'Freaked out?' Ryoko exclaimed looking at her friend incredulously, 'how do you think Akito felt when he got stabbed because of YOUR friend?'

Misa flinched visibly and was about to reply to that when Kizuna interrupted her by saying:

'Guys, arguing isn't going to help anybody, least of all Akito.'

'That's right,' Takumi agreed then, they heard the clinic's sliding doors open and through them, they saw Fumihiro and Kenta stepping into the medical centre.

'Where's Uncle Keisuke?' Seisuke asked as he and everyone else got up from their chairs.

'He and Suetsugu are looking for Hiroki,' Fumihiro replied.

'Unless they find him soon, your uncle said he's going to have to report him to the police,' Kenta added.

'What?' Misa exclaimed.

'Kenta-san,' Kojiro said, 'I don't think Hiroki did anything to Akito.'

'You don't?' Fumihiro asked.

'No, as I was telling them earlier,' Kojiro replied, 'Akito and I saw Hiroki being dragged away from the paddock by two huge guys and I think that Akito believed that Hiroki was going to get beaten up by them because he asked me to go and get help while he went to see what he could do.'

'Are you sure about this?' Kenta asked the young driver.

'Yes,' Kojiro replied, 'I believe that Hiroki upset someone from his team when he changed his mind about pushing me out of the track.'

'That kind of makes sense,' Fumihiro commented, 'do you think you could tell all of this to the police?' he added.

'Of course,' Kojiro replied.

'In that case,' Fumihiro said, 'we better go and find Keisuke before he finds Hiroki.'

With Fumihiro and Kojiro gone, they all decided to sit back down remaining in silence for a whole twenty minutes before they saw a doctor coming into the waiting room making everyone get up yet again.

'Are you with the kid they've just brought in?' he asked.

'We are,' Takumi replied, 'I'm his father,' he added and that made the doctor look at him in a most sympathetic manner.

'I see,' he said, 'we've had to sedate your son to allow us to saw his wound up but, overall, we think he's been very lucky.'

'Lucky?' Ryoko asked.

'Yes,' the doctor replied unfazed by her disbelieving tone, 'no vital organs were harmed so we stopped the bleeding fairly easily. Also, the fact that he was wearing his racing suit made the knife unable to penetrate too deeply.'

'When can we see him?' Takumi asked.

'You can come with me now,' the doctor replied, 'the rest will have to wait until he wakes up.'

'Takumi-san,' Ryoko started.

'She's coming with us too,' Takumi said talking to the doctor, 'she's my son's girlfriend,' he explained.

'Fair enough,' the doctor said, 'follow me.'

With that, Takumi and Ryoko followed the doctor towards the inside of the clinic and to the room where Akito was then, as they all took their seats once again, Kizuna said something that everyone was thinking but no one wanted to voice:

'What's going to happen to Akito's championship now?'

'Oh shit…' Seisuke muttered.

'Guys,' Kenta said, 'let's not draw any conclusions yet. We don't know how bad his wound is.'

The way they all looked at him made Kenta decide to shut up and after that everyone found a reason to do the same: Kyosuke, Kizuna and Seisuke because they were too worried to say anything at all, Misa because she was feeling horribly guilty about the whole thing and Kenta because he simply didn't know what else to say.

Meanwhile, things were even quieter in the room where Akito laid still unconscious, with only the machine which controlled his vital signs making the highly reassuring noise which indicated that the young racer was very much alive.

'He's going to be fine,' Takumi said more to himself than to anyone else.

Ryoko just nodded as she waited patiently for Akito to wake up and watching him sleep made her feel a weird sense of déjà-vu then, a long time later and just as she was about to find another, less uncomfortable position on her chair, they heard the faint rustle of the bed's sheets indicating that Akito had started waking up.

'Hey,' he whispered seeing them there.

'Thank goodness,' Takumi breathed letting out a sigh of relief, 'how are you feeling?'

'I'm great,' Akito replied managing to sound so sarcastic despite the weakness of his voice that Takumi felt rather idiotic for asking his son such a stupid question.

'Akito…' Ryoko whispered as she took his only hand free of the IV-line.

'Hey baby,' he muttered, 'we need to stop meeting like this.'

'This is not funny,' Ryoko complained.

'I know,' Akito agreed frowning as he remembered what had happened and he was about to ask after the whereabouts of Hiroki when the three of them heard someone knocking on the room's door.

'I'll go,' Takumi said getting up and waking towards the door then, pulling it open, they saw Keisuke there.

'We need to talk,' Keisuke whispered to Takumi.

'What's going on?' Akito asked happy that his voice sounded a bit stronger now.

'Er…' Keisuke started, looking at Takumi with an uncertain expression on his face, 'let's go outside…'

'I want to know what's happening,' Akito said.

'I…I don't think it's a…'

'Dad,' Ryoko interrupted him, 'I want to know what's going on too.'

Keisuke frowned at her angrily but then, seeing Akito's determined look on his face, he saw himself without any other option but to say what he had come to explain to Takumi.

'We've got a problem,' he started.

'Another one?' Ryoko asked him.

'A much bigger one,' Keisuke replied then, before saying anything else, he took a deep breath and said, 'we haven't been able to find Hiroki even though we've been looking for him everywhere.'

'And?' Takumi asked knowing that this wasn't all it was to it.

'Well,' Keisuke continued, 'Suetsugu just received a call from his son, he's very distraught by what happened to Akito and even though Suetsugu has done his best to convince him that he's wrong, Hiroki thinks that he's got Akito killed.'

'What?' the nineteen year old exclaimed, upsetting his newly stitched wound in the process, 'ouch,' he complained.

'That's not all, is it?' Ryoko asked to his father.

'No,' Keisuke replied, 'Suetsugu thinks that unless we find him soon, Hiroki may want to do something really stupid.'

'What are you saying?' Akito asked.

'Do you guys think he's going to try and kill himself or what?' Ryoko added almost jokingly.

'Yes,' Keisuke replied, 'that's precisely what we think he's going to do.'

'No way,' Akito said, 'he's not that much of a coward.'

'Son,' Takumi said, 'do you really think he's a coward?'

'Dad…'

'The way I see it,' Takumi explained, 'maybe Hiroki thinks that he's got no other option.'

'That's right,' Keisuke agreed, 'think about it Akito: if what Kojiro's told me is true, Hiroki no longer has a team, he's left his parents' house too so he has nowhere to go and, after what he's done to you guys, he's probably running quite low on friends too.'

'Not to mention the fact that he thinks you're dead,' Takumi added.

They all remained in silence for a few seconds before Akito started trying to get up from his bed.

'Where are you going?' Ryoko exclaimed as she tried to get him down again.

'I'm going to look for him,' Akito replied trying yet again to get down of the hospital's bed.

'You can't!' Takumi and Keisuke said at the same time.

'Look,' Akito started while trying to remove the IV line from his hand, 'I've got to find him so he convinces himself that I'm alive.'

'Akito, be reasonable,' Takumi said, 'you've just been stabbed!'

'No, really?' Akito asked sarcastically then, as he sat on the bed, the stitches made him wince, 'ouch,' he whimpered.

'See?' Ryoko said, 'you can't possibly think of going anywhere.'

Realising that she was right, Akito gave up trying to get up but then, a brand new idea came up to his mind, 'get me a wheelchair,' he said.

'Akito…'

'Dad,' he insisted, 'I know I can't move very much right now but, if one of you three wants to help me, I think could try to find him.'

'Why are you so willing to help him?' Keisuke asked him for he didn't really understand the reasons behind Akito's resolve.

'I'm not willing to help him,' Akito replied, 'but I'm very much willing not to have his death on my conscience for the rest of my life.'

This honesty earned him the right to be as stubborn as he wanted and soon enough, after insisting quite a lot with the clinic's staff who only agreed to let Akito go after they had made sure that Takumi would take every responsibility regarding his son's welfare.

As the four of them made it to the clinic's entrance, they were stopped by a very distressed looking Fumihiro.

'We've found him!' he shouted.

'Where is he?' Akito asked him.

'He's on top of one of the main buildings,' Fumihiro replied speaking so frantically that everyone had a lot of trouble understanding him, 'he says that if anyone goes anywhere near him, he'll jump.'

Akito tried to turn round to exchange a quick, worried look with his father before glancing back at Fumihiro and say:

'Take us there.'

'What do you want to do?' Fumihiro asked looking from Akito to Takumi.

'I just want to talk to him,' Akito replied.

'Do what he says,' Takumi asked the slightly older man.

'Alright,' Fumihiro said.

The whole Takawara Racing Team followed Akito out of the clinic as they all made their way to the six storey building on top of which they saw Hiroki standing onto the very edge of it. Surrounding the building they also saw quite a few people between police and other security staff, the race's organisers, quite a few journalists and a crowd of people who were just there out of morbid curiosity. Unsurprisingly enough, no one from the Kobita Racing Team seemed to be anywhere near there.

'Dad, take me up there,' Akito said.

Pushing a few people out of the way, they finally made it to the building's entrance where they found a couple of police officers blocking it.

'You can't go in,' one of them said looking at Akito with his eyes open so wide that it made the nineteen year old realise, for the first time, that he was still wearing the hospital's way too short and ridiculous looking gown.

'I need to speak to him,' Akito said, trying to ignore the stares he now noticed that everyone was giving him.

'No…'

'I'm the reason that guy up there wants to kill himself,' Akito interrupted him, 'he thinks he got me killed,' he added.

'Ah, it's you who he keeps talking about then,' the other officer said and seeing Akito nod to that, he made a gesture to his colleague so they would let the wheelchair pass, 'only you and the boy,' the police officer added pointing at Takumi.

'Fine,' he said.

On top of ignoring the way people kept looking at him, Akito chose to ignore Ryoko's irate complaints seeing herself excluded but, for the sake of finishing this whole thing as soon as possible, Akito pretended he hadn't heard anything.

At long last, they joined a very distraught Tohru on the roof of the building where a few more police officers were trying to convince Hiroki not to jump.

'Hiroki,' Akito said, using the loudest tone of voice he was capable of.

'NO WAY!' the twenty year old exclaimed seeing his former team mate there, 'YOU WERE DEAD!' he shouted while taking one more step towards the void and making everyone gasp as he did so.

'I'm sorry to disappoint you again,' Akito said almost sardonically, 'but, as you can see, I'm very much alive.'

'What do you want?' Hiroki asked him.

'Well,' Akito started, 'how about if you let me get closer so we can talk?'

The police officers near him looked at Akito with a worried frown on their faces.

'Yeah right,' Hiroki said sarcastically, 'as if I were going to believe that.'

'What do you mean?' Akito asked him.

'Come on Akito, we all know that what you really want is to push me into oblivion!' Hiroki exclaimed dryly.

Doing his best to ignore the throbbing pain coming from his wound and the little drainage bag he had attached to his body, he made a tremendous effort and somehow managed to get up from the wheelchair then, taking a first few hesitant steps towards Hiroki, he said:

'No matter how extremely tempting that sounds, I couldn't do what you say.'

'Why not?' Hiroki asked him.

'Well,' Akito replied while he continued walking barefoot towards the edge of the building, 'to begin with, there are quite a few people who would actually miss you if you died and, to finish off, I wouldn't want to spend the rest of my life in prison just because I helped you do what you obviously can't do yourself.'

As he finished that sentence, Akito had finally reached Hiroki and everyone of the people there felt themselves holding their breath as they waited to see what happened next.

_To be continued…_


	25. Chapter Twenty Four

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Twenty Four_

Standing right at the edge of the building, Akito tried with all his might not to look down for he knew that they were fairly high up and he really didn't want to become anymore aware of that fact than he already was so, for this reason, he kept his gaze fixed onto Hiroki's face hoping that, sometime very soon, he would see the sign which would indicate that his ex-team mate had finally realised how very stupid this whole situation was.

'Come on Hiroki,' Akito said as he extended his hand towards him, 'let's get back down, okay?'

As soon as he finished asking the question, the nineteen year old noticed how extremely quiet everything around seemed to be as they all waited for Hiroki to reply to Akito's question then, just as the latter was about to open his mouth to speak again, he saw that Hiroki nodded once.

'Alright,' he said.

Akito was never sure of what happened next but, as he let out a relieved sigh and he went to lift his foot off the ground so that he could start walking back to where his father was, he felt a sudden and intense wave of dizziness which made him sway backwards.

'Akito!' Hiroki exclaimed.

Only his ex-team mate's extremely fast reflexes saved Akito from a certain death for, throwing himself flat onto the ground, Hiroki managed to grasp Akito's arm just as the younger man realised that he no longer had any ground supporting his weight.

'Hiroki,' Akito whispered urgently becoming acutely aware of the fact that he was now hanging off the six storey building with nothing but Hiroki's hand preventing him from hitting the ground in a surely fatal way. For an eternally long instant, Akito really thought that his ex-team mate would let go of his hand and that made freak out so badly that he started seeing the most significant episodes of his life flashing in front of his eyes.

'Hold on!' Hiroki shouted at him as he tried to pull him back up.

Looking up at him, Akito allowed himself to hope that maybe, just maybe, he had been wrong about Hiroki and that, again maybe, the twenty year old didn't want him dead after all.

'Please don't…'

Akito never finished his plea for he felt that a few of the freshly done stitches from his wound had ripped open and he soon noticed the sticky, warm liquid which was his blood beginning to ooze out of it then, before he could start freaking out about that too, he realised that he was finally being pulled back up onto the building's roof.

'Son!' he heard his father's strained voice say, 'are you okay?'

'No...' Akito whispered weakly from his lying position then, helped by two pairs of reasonably strong arms, he found himself sitting onto the wheelchair as his father pushed him towards the door which led to the inside of the building.

'Fujiwara…' Tohru started as they all waited for the elevator to come back up.

'Suetsugu,' Takumi interrupted him pointing at a very distressed looking Hiroki, 'take care of your son while I take care of mine.'

A few minutes later, Akito was back under the bright lights of the operating theatre only that, this time, the doctors had a much harder job at stopping the haemorrhage since the previously clean cut was now very badly torn which meant that it would now leave a pretty ugly looking scar. By the time Akito woke up from the anaesthesia for the second time that day, it was already dark outside and, unlike the first time, Akito found only his father there.

'Hey,' he whispered trying to get his old man's attention.

'Akito,' Takumi said getting up from his chair to stand next to his son.

'Where's Ryoko?' Akito asked.

'She's in the room next door,' Takumi explained, 'she kind of had a nervous break down and…'

'What?' Akito tried to exclaim.

'Relax,' Takumi ordered.

'What happened?' Akito asked, this time using just a whisper.

'Son,' Takumi said, 'she and everyone else saw you hanging off the roof and she really thought you were going to die. You can imagine the rest.'

'Shit,' Akito muttered.

'They had to give her some sedatives so she would calm down enough to allow her to sleep,' Takumi continued, 'but she should wake up in a few hours.'

'She knows I'm okay, doesn't she?' Akito asked.

'Are you?' Takumi asked back.

'Kind of,' Akito replied then, biting his lower lip, he said, 'I'm not going to be able to go to Macao, am I?'

Takumi looked at his son for a short while before shaking his head.

'Son,' he said, 'I don't think you're going to be fit to drive your own car for at least a couple of weeks, let alone the GP2 one.'

'Brilliant,' Akito commented sarcastically, 'what are we going to do?' he then asked.

'We aren't going to do anything,' Takumi replied, 'Keisuke and I will have to find another driver.'

'Dad,' Akito interrupted him, 'could you do me a favour?' he asked.

'Sure,' Takumi said.

'If he's still around, I'd like to have a word with Hiroki.'

Meanwhile, Keisuke was still speaking to a couple of the circuit's police officers while the rest of the team worked to finish off the packing up of their stuff as soon as they could doing their best to avoid the horde of journalists which was still around.

'What a day,' Kyosuke commented to Kizuna as they cleaned their tools so they could put them back where they belonged.

'Yeah,' Kizuna agreed, 'I'm worried about Ryoko,' she added.

'Me too,' Kyosuke said.

'It's got to be horrible seeing the man you love getting so close to dying twice in the same day,' Kizuna commented, 'no wonder she reacted the way she did.'

'It was a good thing your brother was there,' Kenta said, joining in the couple's conversation.

'Yes,' Kyosuke agreed, 'if it hadn't been for Seisuke, I don't know what would have happened to Ryoko.'

'Where's he?' Kizuna asked looking around herself to see if she managed to spot her fiancé's younger brother.

'He's upstairs with Misa,' Kyosuke replied, 'she's also taken the whole thing pretty badly.'

'Can you blame her?' Kizuna asked.

'Not really,' Kyosuke replied, 'she's been defending Hiroki all this time and now this happens.'

'What's going to happen to Akito?' Kizuna asked looking at Kenta.

'I don't know,' the forty odd year old man replied, 'we'll have to see what the doctors say.'

'What a gigantic mess,' Kyosuke said and both his fiancée and Kenta nodded their agreement as they re-started their work. Then, a few minutes later, the all heard Keisuke step into the garage and say:

'Are we almost done in here?'

'Yes,' Kyosuke replied, 'we're just collecting the last few bits and pieces.'

'Great,' Keisuke said, 'the sooner we get back home the better.'

'Uncle Keisuke, what did the police say?' Kyosuke asked.

'Nothing really,' Keisuke replied, 'even though Kojiro and Hiroki gave them quite a detailed description of the two brutes it's still going to be pretty difficult to find them.'

'Do you really think that the Kobita Team is behind this?' Kenta asked.

'I don't only think so,' Keisuke replied while glancing at his former protégé, 'I am absolutely sure of it,' he then added looking at everyone there.

'Where's Hiroki?' Kizuna asked.

'Takumi asked me to send him over to the clinic,' Keisuke replied, 'apparently Akito wants to speak to him.'

'Akito's awake?' Kyosuke asked raising his eyebrows in surprise.

'He just woke up,' Keisuke replied nodding at his nephew.

'What about your daughter?' Kenta asked.

'Ryoko's still sleeping,' Keisuke replied, 'and I'm not going to wake her up until I'll think she's had enough rest.'

Back at the clinic, Akito tried to sit up on his bed but, seeing how extremely painful his wound still was, he decided to settle for just asking his father to put an extra pillow under his head.

'Are you sure about this?' Takumi asked his son as he did so.

'I am,' Akito replied.

'Alright then,' Takumi said, 'I'll go and get him,' he added and, with this, Akito saw as his father walked out of the room to come back a few instants later followed by a very subdued looking Hiroki.

'Dad, can you leave us alone?' Akito asked to his father who, if possible, started looking even more worried than he already did, 'please,' he insisted.

'Alright,' Takumi agreed then, looking at Hiroki and using a warning tone of voice, he added, 'only for a few minutes and try not to upset him any more than you already have, got it?'

'Yes, sir,' Hiroki replied nodding nervously.

Takumi took a long look at the twenty year old before deciding it was safe to leave him with his son then, he turned round and left the room closing the door behind him and, at long last, Akito finally found himself face to face with his number one enemy.

'Before you say anything,' Hiroki said, 'I'd like to thank you for what you did for me up there.'

Akito's lower jaw gaped as he stared at Hiroki unable to believe his ears. Had the doctors given him too much anaesthetic and had that somehow disturbed his senses?

Seeing Akito's confused expression seemed to make Hiroki chuckle.

'What's so funny?' Akito asked sounding a tad on the dry side.

'Sorry,' Hiroki said, 'I just…'

'Forget it,' Akito interrupted him, shaking his head as he did so, 'I called you because I wanted to speak to you.'

'Listen I…'

'Hiroki,' Akito interrupted him again, 'I really don't have the patience nor the energy to start this conversation more than once so, if you can please just listen to what I have to say I'll be very grateful.'

Hiroki looked at him for a bit before nodding.

'Okay,' he said, 'but before you go ahead, let me explain to you the reasons why I…'

'You don't need to explain that to me,' Akito said, 'whatever pushed you to the edge, quite literally, it's got nothing to do with me.'

'You're wrong,' Hiroki contradicted him, 'it's all because of you.'

'Great,' Akito tried to exclaim, hurting himself in the process, 'so it's my fault, isn't it?' he added with a much lower tone of voice wincing visibly as he spoke.

'It hurts, doesn't it?' Hiroki asked.

'Oh no, it's a joy: you should try getting stabbed every now and then,' Akito replied sarcastically, 'of course it hurts you idiot!' he then hissed.

'I'm glad it does,' Hiroki said making Akito stare at him eye-widen, once more feeling incredulous hearing his ex-team mate's highly offensive words but before he had the time to reply, Hiroki added, 'now you can begin to understand how I feel.'

'Hiroki…'

'Do you have any idea what it's like having to compete with someone like you?' Hiroki asked.

'What are you talking about?' Akito asked back.

'You've got everything I don't: a family with a great reputation and fantastic connections within the racing industry, you've got the Takahashi backing you up all the way and you have so much freaking money that you could even sponsor the team all by yourself.'

'Hiroki…'

'And on top of that, you've got the most beautiful girl I've ever seen for a girlfriend.'

'Hiroki,' Akito repeated this time using a warning tone of voice.

'When you asked me to join your team,' Hiroki said ignoring Akito's warning, 'I thought that I had somehow won the lottery.'

'You surely fooled us,' Akito said.

'What do you mean?' Hiroki asked.

'Your attitude sucked,' Akito replied honestly, 'you really don't have a clue of what it is to be a part of a team, do you?'

'You didn't help me any,' Hiroki said and before Akito could say anything, he added, 'you all made me feel like an outsider.'

'What?'

'And then,' Hiroki continued, 'Hashimoto showed up and he started telling me that that wasn't the way to go.'

'Hiroki,' Akito said, 'I know where you want to end up and I don't…'

'What is it?' Hiroki asked sounding a tad on the aggressive side, 'don't you want to hear how stupid I was when someone sweet talked me into becoming a cheater?'

'No, I don't,' Akito replied then, noticing that he was beginning to feel quite weak all over again, he added, 'honestly Hiroki, I just can't have this conversation right now.'

His very feeble tone of voice seemed to do the trick for Hiroki seemed to finally realise that Akito was doing a huge effort to just remain awake.

'Shit,' he muttered, 'see what I mean?'

'No, Hiroki, I don't,' Akito replied tiredly.

'You always manage to make me feel like I'm a worthless piece of crap,' Hiroki said.

'That's just stupid,' Akito countered and before his ex-team mate could say anything to that, he elaborated his statement by saying, 'look, I think that for some reason you've always made the same mistake when it comes to both life and racing.'

'What do you mean?'

'Do you know the reason why I don't have the same problems you do?' Akito asked then, seeing Hiroki shaking his head, he added, 'because I've never relied on what other people think of me in order to feel good about myself.'

'What?'

'Sure,' Akito continued, 'I like receiving praise every now and then but, you couldn't believe the amount of criticism I get too.'

'Criticism, you?' Hiroki asked with a large dose of disbelief.

'Take racing, for instance,' Akito replied, 'you'd be surprised if you heard what my father thinks about my driving not to mention the couple of times I've overheard him discussing with my grandfather about the things I still need to improve.'

'Really?'

'Also,' Akito added, 'working for your girlfriend's father can sometimes be a living nightmare, not to mention the fact that Ryoko is…'

He interrupted himself realising that he really didn't want to discuss anything which even remotely concerned Ryoko with Hiroki.

'Let's just say,' Akito re-started, 'that I have plenty of people around me who are much better than I am in many different aspects of life but, that doesn't make me feel angry at them, it just makes me think that I have to work harder in order to get better.'

'But…'

'Hiroki, you're the worst mistake I've made in my life,' Akito said with brutal honesty, 'I really thought you had what it took to become a real racer.'

'I am a real racer!' Hiroki complained.

'No you're not,' Akito countered, 'a real racer knows his limits and works constantly to overcome these limits so he can keep pushing them further and further from him. You, in the other hand, have just given up that battle to start fighting a useless war against me.'

'Akito…'

'What's even worse,' Akito continued, 'is that you almost made me play the game following your rules, which is the reason why I called you.'

'You've completely lost me now,' Hiroki said.

'I realised that the only way I'm going to get you out of the way is by keeping you as close as possible,' Akito replied.

'What do you mean?' Hiroki asked now sounding utterly confused.

'I've heard that you've probably lost your race seat,' Akito replied.

'I've probably have, yes,' Hiroki agreed miserably.

'Well, that's a coincidence,' Akito said, 'because I seriously doubt I'll be able to make it for the next race,' he added.

'What are you saying?' Hiroki asked.

'I'm making you an offer,' Akito replied, 'you get back into the team and race in my place until I get better.'

'What?' Hiroki exclaimed.

'I haven't finished,' Akito interrupted him, 'like I said, you get back into the team and race in my place until I get better with only two conditions.'

'Two conditions?' Hiroki asked.

'Yes,' Akito replied, 'the first one is that when I'll get back in the team you stay on as a tester until you find yourself another race seat.'

'That sounds reasonable,' Hiroki said.

'The other one,' Akito continued, 'is that you make sure Kojiro wins his first race in Macao.'

_To be continued…_


	26. Chapter Twenty Five

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Twenty Five_

Hiroki's silence started making Akito think that he had made yet another mistake asking his ex-team mate to get back into the Takawara Racing Team and, was about to say something, when Hiroki said:

'Let me get this straight: you're asking me to re-join the team with the condition that I help Kojiro win?'

'Yes, that's right,' Akito replied.

'Why?' Hiroki asked.

'Because he deserves it,' Akito replied.

'No,' Hiroki said, 'I meant, why do you think I'd do that?'

'I don't think you would do it,' Akito replied, 'I just think that you should do it. Listen, Kojiro is precisely the kind of racer you should aim to become.'

'WHAT?' Hiroki exclaimed.

'You heard me,' Akito said tiredly, 'he's the exact opposite of what you are and I think you could learn heaps from him about what it means being a team player and, more specifically, about what it means to be a professional racer.'

'Are you kidding me? That kid's not that good…' Hiroki started.

'That kid,' Akito interrupted him, 'has a lot more experience in the professional racing world than the two of us put together and, that kid, has earned not only mine but also my father's and Keisuke-san's respect a lot more than you ever did.'

That silenced Hiroki in a way that nothing else could have done.

'Look,' Akito said, 'I'm not trying to be all goodie-good in here, okay? All I want is to be able to concentrate on my racing career properly and I've realised that until you learn what it is to be a professional, I won't be able to do so. So, are you in or are you out?'

Hiroki stared at him for a short while before, at long last, he nodded.

'I'm in,' he finally said, 'but…' he then added making Akito let out an exasperated sigh.

'What now?' the nineteen year old asked.

'I don't think the others are going to be quite so willing to have me back in the team,' Hiroki said.

'Don't worry about them, I'll speak to them myself,' Akito explained.

'What about Ryoko?' Hiroki asked.

'What about her?' Akito said dryly.

'Aren't you worried that….'

'Absolutely not,' Akito interrupted him then, looking at Hiroki in the eye, he added, 'you only managed to do what you did to her because you caught her unprepared. Now that she knows what to expect from you, she'd beat the heck out of you even before you know it.'

'Somehow, I believe that,' Hiroki said.

'You better do, she's taken personal defence lessons from her father,' Akito explained, 'not only that but I also trust her and I know that she will never put herself in a position where she may have to defend herself from you.'

After he said that, Akito noticed that Hiroki was looking at him in a really weird way.

'What's up?' he asked Hiroki.

'Nothing,' Hiroki replied, 'it's just it's got to be great having such a high level of trust in someone.'

'It is,' Akito said, 'I would trust Ryoko with my life and I know she'd do the same now, I really don't want to talk about this anymore, I seriously need some rest.'

'I know,' Hiroki said and as he turned round to leave, Akito added:

'Don't tell anyone what we've discussed, like I said, I'll tell my father and Keisuke-san myself…later…'

'What am I supposed to say then?' Hiroki asked.

'I don't know,' Akito muttered, for he was running out of energy alarmingly fast, 'make something up.'

'Okay, I think I'll ask my father if he can let me move back in,' Hiroki said.

'Yeah,' Akito mumbled sleepily, 'it's a good idea.'

Giving Akito a nod of agreement, Hiroki opened the room's door and left the nineteen year old alone allowing him to, at long last, get the rest he so desperately needed. It was already morning when he woke up feeling extremely disorientated but, the intense pain he felt coming from the stitches as he tried to get up, forced him to remember the reason why he was, once again, waking up in a hospital's room. Looking up from the bed, he saw that his father had slept in the small couch the room came equipped with.

'Dad,' he said with a very croaky sounding voice.

'Hey,' Takumi replied springing up from the sofa while rubbing the sleep off his eyes, 'are you okay?'

'Yeah,' Akito said, 'as okay as I can be, I guess…'

'Son…'

'Listen Dad,' Akito interrupted him, 'is anyone from the team still around?'

'Yes,' Takumi replied, 'Keisuke, Kyosuke and Kizuna have all stayed behind, Seisuke and Misa are here too.'

'What about the rest?' Akito asked.

'They all went back to Gunma,' Takumi said, 'none of them wanted to leave us alone in here but Keisuke forced them to go.'

'And Ryoko?' Akito asked.

'She's here too, of course,' Takumi replied with a smile, 'she woke up in the middle of the night last night and we had quite the job convincing her that you two needed to get as much sleep as possible.'

'I want to see her,' Akito said then, seeing his father walking towards the room's door, he hurried to add, 'later though. I need to speak to you and Keisuke-san first.'

'Is this about Hiroki?' Takumi asked making Akito frown.

'What did he say when he left this room?' Akito asked.

'Nothing much, really,' Takumi said, 'he only said you needed to speak to us.'

'Ah, that's alright then,' Akito said, 'can you go and get Keisuke-san for me, please?'

'Sure,' Takumi replied, 'Akito, you're going to ask us to let Hiroki back into the team, aren't you?'

Akito stared at his father with a startled expression on his face, how did his old man kept doing that? How in the heck did his father always manage to know what was going on in his head? It was pretty frightening.

'Akito, I'm your father,' Takumi replied, again as if he'd read Akito's mind, 'and as such, I'll always know a bit more than you do.'

'Right,' Akito said pouting childishly, 'it's official: you're now as scary as Grandpa.'

Instead of taking it as the highly offensive remark Akito had intended it to be, Takumi seemed to take it as a compliment for he smiled and said:

'So, you are going to ask us to let Hiroki back into the team, aren't you?'

'Yeah,' Akito replied.

'Why?' Takumi asked his son using a neutral tone of voice.

'Because I think that we need to keep an eye on him,' Akito said.

'You think so?'

'Yes,' Akito replied, 'look Dad, he's probably my least favourite person in the world but he's a very talented driver and I think that with the right kind of guidance…'

'Akito,' Takumi interrupted him, 'you said this when you convinced us to let him join the team the first time round.'

'I know I did,' Akito said, 'but I didn't know then that he would end up falling for Ryoko.'

'Then why do you want him back in the team?' Takumi asked.

'Because I think I know how to handle him now,' Akito replied, 'I've made loads of mistakes with him in the past and I'm hoping that I'll be able to correct them.'

'What about Ryoko?' Takumi asked.

'I'm not worried about that anymore,' Akito said, 'like she told me, she's a freaking expert when it comes to rejecting guys so, even if Hiroki's stupid enough to try anything, she'll know how to handle him too.'

'I see,' Takumi said.

'Do you think Keisuke-san will get my point too?' Akito asked sounding quite hopeful.

'I'll go and get him so we can see what he thinks,' Takumi replied, 'meanwhile, I'll ask one of the nurses to bring you something to eat.'

'Okay,' Akito said and, by the time his father was back, with all four Takahashi plus Kizuna and Misa following him, he was busy munching one of the cardboard-like toasts the clinic had considered suitable to give him as breakfast.

'Akito!' he heard Ryoko's cry as she literally threw herself onto him hugging him so tightly that he was forced to complain rather loudly in order to let her know in how much pain he was, 'sorry,' she said as she pulled herself away from him.

'It's okay,' he breathed, trying to recover his composure as fast as possible.

'Your father said you wanted to speak to us,' Keisuke said observing through squinted eyes the way his precious daughter had settled for sitting on Akito's bed clutching one of his IV-free hand with one of hers as she caressed it with the other one.

'I did,' Akito said and, for the second time that morning, he explained what his intentions regarding Hiroki were then, having finished, he braced himself for whatever negative reaction any of the four Takahashi could have.

'It makes sense,' Keisuke said instead.

'It does,' Kyosuke agreed and the approving look on Seisuke's face made Akito think that the younger of the two Takahashi brothers didn't have anything against this plan either.

'So, is that a yes?' Akito asked them.

'I'd say so,' Keisuke replied looking at Takumi who just nodded his agreement, 'after all, it's something that I've been considering myself.'

'What do you think?' Akito asked looking at his girlfriend.

'If you're okay with this, so am I,' Ryoko said, 'you know that I can't say no to you.'

'Er…' Akito said feeling rather embarrassed all of a sudden, 'that's a good thing, because I kind of want to ask you something later.'

'What do you want?' Keisuke asked him instead.

'Er…'

'Dad!' Ryoko protested.

'Hey,' Keisuke said, 'I've accepted to have Hiroki back into the team, haven't I?'

'Yes, but…'

'Then,' Keisuke said, 'I think I want to know what you want to ask to my daughter.'

'DAD!' Ryoko protested again, this time getting up from Akito's bed so that she could confront her father properly, 'this is absolutely none of your business.'

'Actually,' Akito said, trying to sit up straighter on his bed, 'this is his business too.'

'What do you mean?' Ryoko asked as she turned round to look at him with a confused frown on her beautiful face.

'Well,' Akito started, 'I really had something entirely different in mind when I'd be doing this but, hey…'

'Akito,' Ryoko insisted.

'Can you help me?' Akito asked her while he tried to get up from his bed.

'What do you want to do?' Ryoko asked him.

'OH MY GOSH!' Misa exclaimed all of a sudden making everyone turn to face her.

'Oh…' Kizuna gasped too, rapidly understanding what was going on too.

'Can I please just propose in peace?' Akito asked them with an annoyed expression on his face.

'WHAT?' Keisuke exclaimed while his daughter just remained there, totally speechless.

'Er…I think we should go,' Kyosuke suggested.

'No way!' Seisuke exclaimed interrupting his older brother then, seeing the way Kyosuke was glaring at him, he added, 'I've been dying to see this scene ever since Akito and Ryoko got together. I'm not going to miss it for anything in the world.'

'Geez people,' Akito complained, 'this is not a soap opera, okay?'

'Right,' Seisuke said dismissingly, 'now, get on with it.'

Earning himself quite a few glares, including a furious looking one coming from Akito, he ignored them as he eagerly waited to see what happened next.

'But…Akito,' Ryoko finally managed to say, 'I thought you had already…you know…when you gave me this…' she said pointing at the white gold band she had in her left ring finger.

'I know,' Akito said doing his best to pretend that there weren't six other people in the room.

'If you already know my answer, why are you asking me again?' Ryoko asked.

'I know the answer to the question of whether you'd marry me or not,' Akito replied, 'but I don't know the answer to the question of whether you'd be willing to marry me now.'

'NOW?' Keisuke shouted, 'what do you mean by NOW?' he added.

'Ryoko,' Akito said, ignoring his future father in law, 'after what's happened to me in the past twenty four hours, I simply don't want to waste anymore time.'

'Are you serious about this?' Ryoko asked looking at him enthusiastically.

'As serious as a heart attack,' Akito replied making Ryoko smile in a such a sweet way that it made it rather clear to everyone in the room what her answer was going to be.

'Wait a minute,' Keisuke said, 'aren't you…'

'Let's do it,' Ryoko said interrupting her father, 'the sooner the better,' she added.

'HEY!' Keisuke protested and Takumi had to repress a chuckle seeing the absolutely devastated expression on his former best enemy's face, 'baby…'

'Dad,' Ryoko said looking very resolute, 'I agree with Akito, I think that we should get married now.'

'If that's okay with you, that is,' Akito hurried to add.

'Of course it's not okay!' Keisuke exclaimed.

'Dad…'

'Let's try to think of this rationally, shall we?,' Keisuke asked clearly trying to keep himself from hyperventilating, 'you,' he said looking at his daughter, 'you haven't even finished university and you,' he added glancing at Akito with an almost murderous expression on his face, 'weren't you going to wait until she got her degree?'

'Yes but…'

'And what about your career?' Keisuke asked interrupting him.

'Er…'

'Aren't you going to say anything to him?' Keisuke then asked looking at Takumi.

'Er..'

'And you…' Keisuke started glancing at both of his nephews for some unknown reason, making Seisuke and Kyosuke exchange a highly amused look seeing how very desperate their poor uncle was.

'Dad,' Ryoko finally interrupted him by putting her right hand onto his left arm, 'I know that we're a bit too young but, Akito and I have been together for almost five years, I love him and he loves me and I know that we'll make each other happy.'

'But…'

'Keisuke-san,' Akito said, 'do you remember what you told me when you allowed me to date your daughter?'

'Er…of course I do,' Keisuke replied.

'Well, it was a rather useless threat,' Akito said, 'because what terrifies me the most about making Ryoko suffer is not that you'll beat the crap out of me...'

'It's not?' Seisuke asked, getting a brand new glare from everyone.

'No,' Akito replied calmly, 'it's knowing that Ryoko's unhappy what scares me and I know that she's definitely not pleased every time I end up in a hospital room so, I want to make it up to her and I honestly can't think of any better way than to ask her to be my wife.'

'That's right,' Ryoko said, 'and I'm only too happy to accept his proposal.'

'So,' Akito started, staring at Keisuke intently, 'could you please give us your permission to get married?'

'Daddy, please say yes,' Ryoko added looking at her father with her two huge brown eyes full of hope and that, of course, was too much for the poor Keisuke.

'Alright,' he said with his voice full of resignation, 'as if I could do anything to prevent it.'

'When do you guys want to get married?' Kyosuke asked.

'I was thinking before the end of the summer,' Akito replied making Ryoko look even happier.

'Where are you two going to live?' Takumi asked his son.

'That's something I wanted to discuss with you,' Akito replied, 'I was thinking of using the house my biological mother left me, if that's okay with you, of course.'

'You're thinking of taking my daughter to Tokyo?' Keisuke asked.

'Yes,' Akito replied, 'it's a really beautiful house and I think it's a pity that no one uses it.'

'I agree,' Takumi said then, shrugging his shoulders, he added, 'after all, I think your mother would have been very happy having you living in there.'

'What do you think?' Akito asked Ryoko who still hadn't said anything to all of this.

'I'm okay with whatever you want,' she said, 'honestly, Tokyo, New York, even a freaking fishermen's village would be great as long as you're there with me.'

Keisuke observed the way his daughter was looking at Akito and realised, for the first time ever, that no matter how strongly he opposed himself to any of this madness, those two would stick together until the very end.

'Oh well,' Keisuke finally said, 'I guess I only have one thing left to say.'

'Dad…'

'Hey,' Keisuke complained while giving his precious daughter a reassuring smile, 'I just wanted to be the first to say this: congratulations and, Akito, welcome to the family.'

'Uncle Keisuke,' Seisuke started, 'it's not Akito who's going to be taking our surname.'

'That's right,' Kyosuke agreed.

'Oh gosh,' Keisuke said finally realising, 'my baby's going to be a Fujiwara.'

'Fujiwara Ryoko,' the nineteen year old girl said, 'I like it.'

'Akito,' Keisuke started, 'you really are a smart boy.'

'What do you mean?' Akito asked feeling suddenly confused.

'I'm pretty sure you've waited until you were at a hospital to ask me this,' Keisuke explained, 'in case I felt tempted to make you end up in one.'

Everyone started laughing out loud, even Akito who had to force himself to stop fearing that he would, once again, tear up some of his stitches.

_To be continued…_


	27. Chapter Twenty Six

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Twenty Six_

To say that it was weird to be back in there was probably the understatement of the century, Hiroki thought as, a few days after the GP2 race in Suzuka, he parked his orange Mitsubishi Eclipse GT at the car park of the Takahashi Motorsports Centre.

It was even stranger because he had been formally summoned by the Centre's managing director Takahashi Keisuke, the man who had told him, just a few weeks before, not to show up in there ever again and, for this reason, Hiroki felt a tad more than just a bit nervous as he locked his car up to walk the short distance which separated the car park from the main building where, he knew, Keisuke-san's office was.

Stepping into the reception area, he waited till the pretty receptionist called her boss to announce that Hiroki was there.

'The director is waiting for you,' the girl said indicating the way with her hand.

Hiroki walked towards the man's office walking through the corridor stopping briefly to check a few of the objects which were on display along the walls. There, he saw the picture of a much younger Keisuke lifting the GT300 cup with a smiling Takumi standing next to him. Shaking his head, he made his way to Keisuke-san's door finding it already open.

'Come in and sit down,' he heard Keisuke order him with such a cold tone of voice that Hiroki had to make an effort not to turn round and start running away.

'Good morning,' Hiroki said as he took a seat in front of the older man's desk.

'Is it?' Keisuke asked raising one of his eyebrows sceptically.

'Er…'

'Listen,' Keisuke said, 'I've called you in here to discuss a couple of things. The first one is about your now ex-team…'

'What about it?' Hiroki asked and, for some reason, that made Keisuke get up and start pacing up and down across the room.

'Suetsugu,' Keisuke said shaking his head, 'you know what your main problem is?'

'No,' Hiroki replied with a tiny voice.

'You don't listen. You NEVER listen.'

'Er…'

'See?' Keisuke said, 'here I am trying to explain something and you keep interrupting me.'

'I'm sorry,' Hiroki said.

'No, you're not,' Keisuke countered, 'but never mind that. What I called you to discuss is that, earlier this morning, I received a phone call from the police: they've found the two thugs who were trying to beat you up and who ended up stabbing Akito instead.'

'Really?'

'Yes,' Keisuke said, 'now, if we want to build a case against Hashimoto and his uncle, we need to know if you're prepared to testify against them.'

'Testify?'

'Yes,' Keisuke replied losing his already limited patience, 'give testimony, tell your version of the facts…you know what testify means, don't you?'

'Yes, of course I do.'

'Right,' Keisuke said, 'like I was saying, the thugs haven't confessed to having done anything yet and the police are still interrogating them but, since they found their finger prints all over the knife, it won't be long until they have to give in.'

'Is there anything I can do?' Hiroki asked and that made Keisuke let out a mirthless chuckle.

'I can't believe it's taken this much to get you to be cooperative,' Keisuke said.

'What do you mean?'

'Hiroki,' Keisuke started, as he re-took his seat behind his desk, 'I don't think you fully realise the gravity of the situation.'

'Er…'

'Right now, those two thugs are facing a very long prison sentence for attempted murder, Hashimoto's probably not going to be faring much better and Kobita's team will most likely lose the FIA license to race in the GP2 because of all of this. Not to mention the amount of pain you would have caused to all of us if Akito had actually died.'

'Er…'

'The reason why Takumi's not here talking to you,' Keisuke continued, 'it's because it's going to take a long while before he forgives you. You have no idea of how close Takumi is to his son: when Akito's biological mother died, Akito was the only reason why Takumi didn't do anything stupid. If you had got Akito killed…well, let's say that you're really lucky that he's going to be okay.'

Hiroki just nodded.

'I would never admit this in front of him but, I also care a great deal about Akito,' Keisuke said, 'after all, in less than a month, he's going to become my son-in-law.'

'What?' Hiroki asked.

'This is the other thing I wanted to discuss with you,' Keisuke said, 'like I said, Akito and Ryoko are going to get married in less than a month and I certainly hope that this will put an end to any stupid notions you may have had regarding my daughter.'

Keisuke observed Hiroki as the younger man swallowed while trying to keep his composure.

'Now,' Keisuke continued, 'Akito's asked us to allow you back into the team and since I trust Akito enough to allow him to marry my daughter, I will also trust him with any decision he may make regarding you. However, I am going to keep a very close watch on you, especially because I have absolutely no interest whatsoever on having you picking on Kojiro.'

'Can I ask you something?' Hiroki asked.

'You just have,' Keisuke countered then, laughing softly at Hiroki's face, he said, 'fire away…'

'Didn't Akito tell you about the terms of our agreement?'

'Yes, he did,' Keisuke replied, 'he told me that he expects you to help Kojiro win our next race.'

'Yes that's right…'

'Believe me,' Keisuke interrupted him, 'I seriously doubt that Kojiro needs any help to win a race.'

'Then…'

'Hiroki,' Keisuke interrupted him, 'as usual, you're so focused on the small picture that you're not getting the bigger one.'

'What?' Hiroki asked sounding pretty confused.

'Akito wants you to pay attention to what Kojiro does. He's hoping you'll learn something from him.'

'He said that too,' Hiroki said.

'I'm glad I know my future son-in-law this well,' Keisuke said, 'in that case, you may go and get changed, the rest of the team is already gathered and they're only waiting for us.'

'That's it?' Hiroki asked.

'Yes,' Keisuke said, 'what else did you want?'

'Er…I don't know, don't I have to sign anything?' Hiroki asked.

'Nope,' Keisuke replied, 'your previous contract was never formally cancelled so, as far as we're concerned, you're still a member of the Takawara Racing Team. Now, go and get changed, I still have things to do before I join all of you.'

'Yes, sir,' Hiroki said then, as he started getting up, he added, 'my father sends his regards and his thanks to you.'

'Tell him that we return the regards and that he's very welcome, quite literally,' Keisuke replied, 'your father is a very good man, you should also learn from him.'

'I know he is and I will,' Hiroki said and then, as soon as the twenty year old had left the room, Keisuke leant onto his chair and, speaking to no one in particular, he said:

'I hate playing the bad guy.'

A few minutes later, a suited up Hiroki walked into the box where he saw Kojiro talking to Kizuna and Kyosuke. Akito's father was a bit further away checking some data on a computer with the help of Kenta and Fumihiro while the rest of the staff were busy working on the cars.

'Hello,' he muttered almost shyly.

'Oh,' Kizuna gasped, 'hello, Hiroki.'

Hiroki then observed as Takumi looked up from the computer and realising who was there, he just took a clipboard from a nearby table and walked away from the box.

'Don't mind him,' Fumihiro said, 'he's understandably upset about all that happened in Suzuka but, don't worry, he'll get over it soon.'

'I hope so,' Hiroki said.

'You can't blame him,' Kyosuke added icily, 'after all, you almost got his only son killed.'

'Kyosuke,' Kizuna admonished him, 'remember what Akito said…'

'I know, I know,' Kyosuke said talking to his fiancée, 'don't worry, once we start working I'll get all professional and I'll forget that he almost managed to get my best friend killed.'

With that, he just walked away and joined a group of three mechanics which were working on what it was Akito's car but that it would be Hiroki's for at least one race.

'Just relax,' the twenty year old heard Kizuna say as she patted him on his arm, 'it'll be fine…'

'Yeah,' Hiroki replied sounding pretty sceptical. Not that this coldness towards him was a surprise but it still stung to see so many unfriendly faces around him and, as he went to start putting his balaclava on, he saw Kojiro walking towards him making him brace himself for the worst.

'Welcome back to the team,' the eighteen year old said extending his hand towards him.

'Er…' Hiroki hesitated while looking at the hand in an almost suspicious manner.

'You're supposed to shake it,' Kojiro explained while pointing at his own hand with his other one.

'Yeah, of course,' Hiroki said finally taking Kojiro's hand in his and giving it a brief shake.

'See? It wasn't so difficult, was it?' Kojiro asked and Hiroki had a hard time trying to figure out whether the younger and shorter guy was making fun of him or he was being totally serious.

'No, it wasn't,' Hiroki said, just in case.

'Now,' Kojiro started, 'I know that people around here aren't going to be extremely nice to you because of all the things that have happened but, as far as I'm concerned, I hardly know you so I'll just forget about everything you've done to me in the past and we'll start this with a clean sheet.'

'Alright,' Hiroki said feeling rather grateful.

'Having said that,' Kojiro continued, 'we're professional racers and we're paid to make the car go as fast as possible and win as many races as we can. To do that, we're going to need to help each other so, what I expect from you is full cooperation, because that's what you're going to get from me.'

'Right,' Hiroki said.

'To begin with,' Kojiro added, 'Akito and I have this deal which I make with every single one of my team mates…'

By the time Hiroki finally climbed into his car, he felt like he'd been through a lesson on how to be a professional racer and when the two cars started making their way onto the track, Hiroki decided to place himself behind Kojiro so he could observe the younger driver's highly efficient style but, at the end of the lap, Kojiro slowed down quite dramatically forcing him to overtake him.

'What's going on?' Hiroki asked the boxes.

'Nothing,' Kizuna replied, 'Kojiro just wants you to drive ahead of him.'

'Ah, okay,' Hiroki said and then, smiling to himself, he decided to give the best he had to show to everyone that he was a GP2 racer for a good reason.

'Can I have a quick word with you?' Kojiro asked Hiroki as soon as the two drivers had left their rides under the caring hands of the team's technical staff.

'Sure, what's up?'

'Listen,' Kojiro said, 'I don't know if you've ever driven in a street circuit before.'

'Er…nope,' Hiroki replied.

'I thought so,' Kojiro said, 'because whereas the way you drive is good enough for a normal circuit, if you drive like that in the street circuit of Macao, I'm sure you'll hit the barriers at the very first corner.'

'What?' Hiroki asked sounding incredulous.

'You need to be a lot smoother,' Kojiro explained, 'keep your lines cleaner and be a bit less aggressive on the steering wheel when you turn.'

Hiroki felt his anger mounting but then, he remembered Keisuke's words and, taking a couple of deep, calming breaths, he just nodded and said:

'Fair enough, I'll try that.'

'Thanks for listening,' Kojiro said and with that, he left an astonished Hiroki behind. Was this guy for real? Hiroki asked himself as he observed the younger racer talking to Kizuna, apparently exchanging opinions regarding his car's settings.

Meanwhile and back at the Fujiwara residence, Akito had just finished getting dressed for the first time since when, over a week ago, he'd been brought back home from the Arakawa Hospital when he heard his phone's ring tone announcing that he had an incoming videophone call.

'Hi babe,' he said seeing Ryoko's beautiful face on the small screen.

'Baby, what are you doing dressed?' Ryoko asked him.

'Oh, I'm going to check something on the V-86 later…'

'Akito, you know you can't…'

'Hey, I know I can't drive it yet,' he said a tad on the annoyed side, 'I'm just going to check something on it.'

'Okay,' Ryoko said, 'but don't overdo it, okay?'

'Yes doc,' he replied giving her his best smile.

'Good,' Ryoko said, 'now, listen, Mum and I are discussing the flower arrangements and I've wondered if you'd prefer them to be pink, blue or a mix of the two.'

'Er…'

'Because we also have white and yellow, but I'm not too keen on the yellow ones because…'

'Ryoko, hold on one second,' Akito said, 'er…I really don't know how to say this…'

'What?' Ryoko asked looking rather worried.

'I…don't take this the wrong way but…I seriously don't care all that much about the flowers…'

'But…'

'Ryoko, do you honestly expect me to notice anything else but you?' he asked her with what he hoped was his most charming tone of voice.

'Akito…' she said with a small giggle.

'Seriously,' Akito said, 'I don't care about the flowers or anything else for that matter: whatever you like it'll be good. I'm more concerned about the house, to be perfectly honest.'

'Oh, don't worry about that,' Ryoko said.

'Why not?'

'Because, if that's okay with you, I've been thinking of hiring a cleaning crew to give the whole thing a good scrub so it's ready for whenever we come back from the honeymoon.'

'But what about the furniture?' Akito asked.

'I thought it was fully furnished already,' Ryoko replied.

'Yes it is but, I thought you may want to change something,' Akito explained.

'Nope,' Ryoko replied, 'I think we should first get used to the house and then we'll see if we need to change something. Besides, from what I saw when I was over there, it's beautifully furnished and I doubt I'll want to change anything from it.'

'Alright, fair enough,' he said.

'Akito,' Ryoko said, 'there's one thing which I think we should agree on.'

'What is it?'

'Do you want to choose another bedroom as the master one?' she asked.

'Er…why?' Akito asked.

'Well, I don't know, I thought it'd be kind of weird sleeping in the same room your parents did.'

'Ah, I see what you mean,' Akito said frowning, 'what do you suggest we do?'

'I don't know,' Ryoko replied, 'I was kind of hoping you'd know what to do.'

'I'll tell you what we can do,' Akito said, 'let's just drive there this afternoon and take a walk around the house.'

'Akito, you're supposed to be resting,' Ryoko countered.

'I am resting,' Akito said, 'besides, as long as you don't ask me to run, I'm perfectly fine with a short stroll and if you drive us there, then I shouldn't have any problems, should I?'

'Alright,' Ryoko conceded, 'I'll pick you up just after lunch.'

'Deal,' Akito said smiling again then, finishing the call, he put his phone inside the pocket of his jeans and, very slowly, started making his way downstairs where he found his mother already preparing their meal.

'Where are you going?' Natsuki asked him.

'Nowhere,' Akito replied, 'I'm just going to take a look at something in my car.'

'Ah, okay…'

'Mum,' Akito said, 'I haven't asked you this yet but, you're okay with this whole wedding thing, aren't you?'

Natsuki looked at him for a short while before nodding once.

'Akito, I don't mind what you do, as long as you're happy.'

'I am,' Akito said, 'believe me: I haven't been surer of anything as I am that this is the right thing to do.'

'Then, you've got my full support,' Natsuki said then, in what was one of his usual and spontaneous displays of affection, Akito hugged the woman who had raised him as her son ever since he was six.

'Thanks,' he said and with that, he left a very moved Natsuki in the kitchen as he went to the house's garage where, usually, one could find his beloved V-86, the legendary Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86 and the little Nissan Micra which belonged to Natsuki.

'What in the…' he said as, opening the door which connected the house to the garage, he saw that of the three cars his family owned, only one was there: the little Nissan Micra.

'MUM!' he shouted as he ran back into the house, hurting himself in the process.

_To be continued…_


	28. Chapter Twenty Seven

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Twenty Seven_

Akito didn't even need to get back into the kitchen because Natsuki met him half way through the house's corridor looking so freaked out that it made him regret having shouted so loudly. Not only because he had upset his half-healed wound, again, but also because he had scared the hell out of his poor mother.

'What's happened?' Natsuki asked him with a panicked expression on her face.

'My…c-car,' Akito stuttered as he winced and tried to recover his breath all at the same time.

'What about it?' Natsuki asked.

'It's gone!' Akito exclaimed then, something really weird happened. He saw as his mother slapped her own forehead and then she started smiling, 'Mum, it's not funny! Someone's nicked my car!' he complained urgently while thinking that the world was definitely going to the dogs.

'No they haven't,' Natsuki said, 'I'm so silly.'

'Okay,' Akito interrupted her trying to sound as patient and rational as possible, 'can you please explain to me what in the heck is going on?'

'Sure,' Natsuki said, 'I forgot to tell you that your grandfather took it with him last night.'

'He what?' Akito wheezed.

'Er…' Natsuki said while frowning as though as she was trying to concentrate, 'now that I think of it, I'm not sure if I was allowed to tell you anything about it.'

'Mum,' Akito started, getting seriously nervous, 'why did Grandpa take my car?'

'Oh,' Natsuki replied, 'I'm not entirely sure. You should ask your father.'

The poor woman hadn't even finished the sentence that Akito had his phone already in his hand and was about to dial his father's number when he saw that his mobile was ringing: on its display, Akito saw his father's phone number.

'Dad!' he replied, 'I was about to call you.'

'Ah, I see,' he heard his father say, 'I guess you've seen your car's gone.'

'Yes Dad,' Akito said and, before Takumi could say anything, he added, 'I guess you too forgot to warn me about this.'

'Yeah, sorry,' Takumi replied.

'Dad, honestly, we really need to work on our communication,' Akito said still trying to sound upset even though he was beginning to get rather excited.

'The thing is,' Takumi said, 'that this was a surprise from your grandfather.'

'Okay, you can tell him that I'm officially the most surprised person on this planet,' Akito said, 'now, am I allowed to know what Grandpa is doing to my car?'

'Er…I don't really know,' Takumi replied.

'You don't know?' Akito asked raising his eyebrows in disbelief.

'Akito,' Takumi said now getting serious, 'since when anyone ever knows what that crazy old man is up to?'

Akito considered this for a couple of seconds before saying:

'You're right Dad.'

'Of course I am,' Takumi said with a short laugh, 'now, don't worry about your car, if there's one thing we can trust your grandfather with, is with taking good care of anything which has four tyres.'

'That's true too,' Akito admitted.

'Oh well, I better go now,' Takumi said, 'if I don't hurry up in here I'll be late for lunch and your mother won't be happy.'

'Yeah,' Akito said, 'remember that it's your turn to go and pick Haruko up from school.'

'Cr…of course I remember,' Takumi exclaimed, 'who do you think you're talking to?' he added trying to sound offended but his tone made Akito think that, once agin, his father had forgot all about his parental duties.

Then, after finishing the conversation with his father, Akito smiled in spite of everything that had happened up to that moment and glancing at a still worried looking Natsuki, he said:

'I swear, one of these days, that crazy old man is going to give me a heart attack.'

After enjoying a family lunch, and around the time they had agreed, Akito went to open the front door to allow Ryoko into the house when he saw that the girl's mother was there too.

'Hi,' Akito said.

'Hi baby,' Ryoko replied giving him a quick peck on his cheek, 'I hope you don't mind if my mum comes with us.'

'Of course not,' Akito said then, looking at Kyoko, he added, 'we could use an unbiased opinion.'

Kyoko smiled at him as she tousled his hair making him feel like he was five.

'You're always so sweet,' she added as she stepped into the house then, just as Ryoko was removing her shoes, she whispered:

'I'm sorry, she kind of…'

'Hey, it's fine,' Akito whispered back, 'honestly.'

Ten minutes later he wished he hadn't agreed to the whole thing so easily for when he got back into the kitchen, he heard Kyoko telling his whole family about the plans Akito and Ryoko had for the house and, predictably enough, Natsuki said:

'You know what, I think I may come with you guys.'

This was followed by an almost surreal silence while they all pondered the oddness of having Natsuki offering herself to help with the furniture rearrangement in the house which had belonged to her husband's first wife. Yet again, Akito thought trying to be fair, Natsuki's role as the mother of the groom kind of gave her as much right to be involved in the preparations as Kyoko had in her role as the mother of the bride.

'Is not weird that I ask this, is it?' Natsuki asked looking quite concerned.

'Of course not,' Akito replied, 'go and get ready, we'll wait for you here.'

'I want to come too!' Haruko announced.

'Alright,' Akito said sighing in resignation, 'the more the merrier,' he added almost sarcastically then, looking at a silent Takumi, he asked, 'Dad, do you want to join us?'

'No, thanks,' Takumi replied, 'I better go and find your grandfather so I can figure out what it is that he's doing to your car.'

'Promise that you'll call me the minute you find out, okay?' Akito begged him.

'If I'm allowed to do so, I will,' Takumi replied.

Five minutes after this, Akito climbed into the Takahashi's family MPV with Kyoko sitting behind its steering wheel, while he prepared himself mentally to spend the rest of the afternoon with the four most important women of his life.

'You're a really good driver,' Akito commented to her when she was parking the van just outside the huge house for it was true that she had not lost her street racer touch when it came to driving.

'Why, thank you,' Kyoko said grinning at him while looking rather pleased with herself then, as soon as they were all out of the van, her smile disappeared to be replaced by a frown, 'I haven't seen this house in so long.'

'Is this Oniichan's new house?' Haruko asked her mother.

'Yes, it is,' Natsuki replied.

'I don't like it,' Haruko sentenced, 'it's kind of spooky.'

Ryoko laughed at that and taking the girl's hand, she said:

'Don't worry, that's only because it's a bit dirty and it needs to be repainted. Once we do that, you'll see how beautiful it is.'

'I'm not so sure,' Haruko insisted, 'it's also very far away, we were on the motorway forever.'

'Hey,' Akito said, 'it's only an hour away and we'll be seeing each other almost every day at the Centre, won't we?'

'Yeah, but…'

'Hey,' Akito repeated, this time stopping to crouch next to his younger sister, 'I'm always going to be your Oniichan, no matter where I live, okay?'

'I don't want you to move so far away from home,' Haruko insisted.

'Baby,' Natsuki started, 'we can come and visit Akito and Ryoko whenever you want.'

'That's right,' Akito said, 'we'll prepare a room only for you so you can come and stay with us whenever you feel like it, alright?' he added looking at Ryoko who, as she smiled at the younger girl, she also nodded her agreement.

'Alright,' Haruko finally said, 'but I get to pick the room.'

'Deal,' Akito said then, taking her other hand, he and Ryoko walked to the house with Haruko sandwiched between them while the two older women followed the three teenagers.

'Wow,' Natsuki said stepping into the house, 'this is huge.'

'It is, isn't it?' Kyoko asked as she too entered the house, 'if I remember correctly, the kitchen should be that way.'

'Well Mum,' Ryoko said, 'since you're probably the only one of us who knows the layout of this house, how about if you kind of give us a tour around it?'

'Yeah, that'd be good,' Akito agreed.

Soon, all four of them followed Kyoko around the mansion and as they went through its numerous rooms, Kyoko felt a knot tying her throat as she remembered about all the happy times she'd spent in that house during the numerous visits she'd paid to Minami.

'Oh,' she gasped, entering the music room in the middle of which there was a huge piano covered by some linen sheets, 'this was your mother's favourite room in the whole house,' she added looking at Akito who, for some reason, glanced at Natsuki before returning his gaze to his future mother in law.

'I can see why: it's beautiful,' Natsuki commented seeming completely oblivious to the awkwardness of this situation, 'those windows are truly amazing,' she added pointing at the huge windows which overlooked the house's now unkempt back garden.

'I like it too,' Ryoko said, 'Akito, I think I've just found us our bedroom,' she added twirling around herself to look at every aspect of the room.

'Okay, approved,' Akito said while feeling quite concerned since he was most definitely not buying Natsuki's apparent nonchalance when it came to walking around the house of her husband's first wife.

'Let's go and check the other rooms,' Kyoko proposed, 'I think there was a huge bathtub in the master bathroom.'

Half an hour later and while Kyoko and her daughter were busy discussing with Haruko about which one of the four guest bedrooms was the best one for her, Akito walked towards his mother and said:

'Mum, are you okay?'

'Sure, shouldn't I be?' Natsuki replied.

'Yeah, of course,' Akito said, 'it's just that…'

'Hey,' Natsuki said, 'I know who lived here. I know that your father spent the happiest years of his life in this house.'

'No, Mum,' Akito interrupted her, 'I think that Dad's happier now than he's ever been and I think that most of the merit should be awarded to you.'

'Akito…'

'Honestly,' Akito said, 'now that I'm going to be moving out I can say this: thank you. Not only for looking after me as well as you have but, also for making sure Dad is a happy man. I seriously don't know what we would have done without you.'

'Akito…' Natsuki said frowning as her eyes became dangerously shiny.

'Hey, don't cry,' Akito warned her, 'if you do Haruko will think that you too are upset about me leaving and she will never forgive me.'

Natsuki laughed softly as she nodded at him.

'Well, now that you're moving out I can say this too: when you gave me the job of being your mother you made me the happiest woman in the world and, after all these years, I wouldn't have wanted anyone else to be my son.'

'I want that written and signed,' Akito said with a cheeky smile, 'just in case.'

Natsuki laughed at that too before she said:

'Shall we go with the others?'

'We better,' Akito replied, 'before they decide to paint the house pink or goodness knows what other colour…'

It was already dark when they got back to Gunma that evening and, while Ryoko, Natsuki and Kyoko discussed the huge list of things they needed to do in order to make the house fit to be lived in, Akito's mind was focused on one single thing: his car and whatever his grandfather was doing to it.

Because of this and the minute Kyoko parked the van just outside the Fujiwara's, he jumped out of it and walking as fast as he could, he opened the garage to find that once more and to his utmost disappointment, there was still no trace of his V-86.

'Oniichan, where's your car?' he heard his little sister ask.

'I wish I knew,' Akito replied as he followed the other three women into the house's living room. There, he drank half a cup of the tea Natsuki had prepared for her kids and the guests then, as he got up from the couch, he said turned towards Ryoko and said:

'It's been a long day so I think I'm going to lie down for a…'

An incredibly loud but beautiful noise covered the rest of his sentence and, not caring a bit about his wound, he ran back outside the house where he saw his precious Toyota V-86 being driven into the house's lane followed by the Trueno.

'WOW!' he exclaimed.

'I think he likes it,' Bunta said talking to his son as the two men climbed out of their cars. Takumi nodded twice and said:

'I think he does.'

'W-what did you…' Akito stuttered.

'Your father here,' Bunta explained while pointing at Takumi with his thumb, 'told me that you were unhappy with the way your car performed.'

'Well, that's a bit extreme,' Akito replied, 'it's just that after Kyosuke rebuilt his, I…'

'Yeah, whatever,' the old man interrupted him, 'the thing is, quite a few months ago, I got my hands on something which I kind of hoped to give you for your birthday but, since you wanted to do an upgrade to your car and you're about to get married, I thought of giving it to you as your wedding present.'

'You got me a new engine, didn't you?' Akito asked.

'My boy,' Bunta started, trying to feign annoyance but, judging by the way his lips were curved into a small smile, was a clear sign that the old man was quite amused by all of this, 'I didn't only get you a new engine,' he explained.

'What did you do then?' Akito asked.

'You wanna see?' Bunta said.

'Duh, yeah,' Akito said, almost shaking due to the restless feeling he was beginning to get.

'Well then,' Bunta said now looking positively amused, 'climb into it and you'll see…'

'Wait one minute,' Natsuki protested at just about the same time Ryoko was starting to do so, 'he's not sup…'

'Oh, calm down woman,' Bunta interrupted her, 'I know the kid's not supposed to be driving yet but, did I say he was going to?'

'Are you going to drive?' Akito asked getting even more excited than if he had been allowed to do so himself.

Bunta looked around for a short while and said, 'I don't see anyone else here who's offering to do the driving for you, so, yes, I am, unless you have anything against having an old man such as myself driving this whole mass of chips you call your car.'

'No, of course not,' Akito exclaimed as he rushed to get into the passenger seat of his V-86, feeling so happy about having his legendary grandfather behind the steering wheel that he didn't even notice the almost insulting tone the old man had used when referring to his beloved car.

'I can't believe someone this childish is about to get married,' Bunta commented as he too climbed into the car with enviable agility, considering that he was long past his seventieth birthday.

'Er…' Akito started, seeing that together with the new engine, there was a brand new accessory pinned onto the car's dashboard, 'Grandpa, what's that for?' he asked.

'That's a cup holder,' Bunta explained, 'it's used to hold cups, funnily enough,'

'I know that,' Akito said sounding slightly grumpy, 'but, why did you put one there? I already have two in here,' he added pointing at the two circular holes placed immediately behind the handbrake.

'Those are not good for what I have in mind,' Bunta said.

'What do you want to do?' Akito asked.

'Hasn't your father told you anything about my teaching methods?' Bunta asked him.

'Er…yeah…'

'Great then, pay attention because this is lesson number one,' Bunta said placing a plastic cup full of water into the new cup holder.

_To be continued…_


	29. Chapter Twenty Eight

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Twenty Eight_

It had been just over two weeks after his first 'lesson' with his grandfather and only three days after that Akito had managed to convince his parents that he was finally fit to get behind the wheel again and now, having driven the V-86 for almost ten whole nights in a row, the nineteen year old was finally beginning to understand his 'new' car.

Akito parked the V-86 outside his grandfather's tofu shop and, stepping out of it, he stared at the Toyota admiring the new rear wing which made sure the car was kept glued onto the ground. That and the rest of the aerodynamic elements which had been added onto the bodywork were the most visible changes Bunta Fujiwara had done to the car.

However, Akito knew that the most important ones had taken place under the bonnet and after patting it in an affectionate fashion, the nineteen year old walked towards the shop's front door.

'Grandpa, are you there?' he asked stepping inside the now empty working area.

'In the kitchen,' he heard his grandfather reply and with that, Akito walked into the room and showed him the piece of cloth he had in his hands.

'Look,' Akito said grinning at his grandfather.

'Oh-ho,' Bunta said with what sounded a lot like fake enthusiasm.

'It's dry,' Akito felt the need to point out.

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'now we can put the settings back to how they should be.'

'What?' Akito asked feeling and looking rather stunned.

'My boy,' Bunta replied, 'what kind of cruel teacher do you think I am?'

'Grandpa…'

'As you know,' Bunta explained, 'after we swapped the engine we had to reinforce most of the car: we've adapted the suspension, the steering, the gearbox and the brakes so that it makes it easier for the car to adjust to the new engine.'

'But…'

'Mind you,' Bunta said, 'we also needed to take into account that you're still not as fit as you used to be so…'

'Grandpa!' Akito protested.

'Anyway,' Bunta ignored him, 'so what we did to the V-86 was setting everything so you could start getting to know the new engine without losing control of the car at the first corner.'

'Wait a minute,' Akito said, 'you set the car so it would be EASIER to drive?'

'Yep,' Bunta replied, looking quite happy that his grandkid had understood the concept.

'Grandpa,' Akito started, 'that car is a nightmare! It's taken me a whole week before I could even think of drifting with it again!'

'Oh, really?' Bunta asked now looking a bit worried, 'then I don't think I should change the settings yet.'

'No, no,' Akito hurried to say, 'what I meant to say is that the new engine is….well…let's just say that it's a bit of a handful.'

'Of course it is,' Bunta said, 'that's a modified RVX-24 and it gives over four hundred horsepower.'

'I know, I still can't believe you've got me an F1 engine,' Akito said, his grin suddenly reappearing on his face.

'It's not an F1 engine,' Bunta countered, 'like I said, it's been heavily modified and detuned: if we had installed the untouched version, that V-86 of yours wouldn't have been able to cope with it.'

'It doesn't matter,' Akito said, 'it's still an F1 engine. You really don't want to tell me where you got it from, do you?'

'Nope,' Bunta replied, 'don't worry, when I die, I'll leave my little address book to you and your father.'

'Then we'd rather never know,' Akito said getting very serious and staring at his grandfather in a way which made the old man suddenly turn round and say:

'I'm busy now, go back home and get some sleep, I'll come to get the car later.'

Akito stood there for a couple of seconds before smiling again.

'Okay,' he said then, before leaving the kitchen, he put his hand onto his grandfather's shoulder and said, 'you're the best grandfather in the world.'

Only when Bunta heard the shop's front door closing he allowed himself to look at his house's entrance and, with a most definitely moved expression on his old face, he muttered:

'Bloody kid, he's worse than his father.'

Twenty four hours later, Akito found himself back behind the steering wheel of his car, this time with his grandfather on the passenger seat and a brand new cup full of water in the cup holder.

'Right, take it easy now,' Bunta said as Akito turned the V-86 to face the uphill of the very familiar looking Mt Akina Pass.

'The steering feels a lot heavier than last night,' Akito commented.

'Yes,' Bunta said, 'and you'll see that the suspensions are a bit stiffer too, be careful or you'll send us flying off the cliff.'

'Great encouragement, Grandpa,' Akito complained, 'maybe I should wait till Dad gets back from Macao.'

'Your call,' Bunta said not even bothering with taking offence.

'I was just kidding,' Akito hurried to say.

'Get on with it then,' Bunta said, 'at my age, I can't go and waste this much time.'

'Alright, here we go,' Akito said and, with that, he released the handbrake and inserted the first gear, noticing once again that the clutch felt different too as it did the brake and the accelerator pedals making Akito slightly desperate finding that, once again and for the second time in two weeks, he had to get to know his car all over again.

'Not bad,' Bunta commented as Akito entered the first turn in what was a rather conservative drifting manoeuvre, 'careful with the water,' he added and that made Akito steal a quick glance at the brimful cup, noticing that indeed the water inside it was dangerously close to coming out of its recipient.

'Crap,' Akito muttered as he adjusted his driving to make sure the water remained safely inside the cup.

'Easy there,' Bunta said, 'don't be so brusque. Instead of pulling the steering wheel, you need to learn to caress it and you also need to readjust the pedal work, be a lot more delicate on it.'

'I know,' Akito said, 'you'd think it'd be easy but, compared to this, the GP2 car is a joy.'

'No one said it would be easy,' Bunta pointed out, 'but keep on going, you're not doing too badly.'

By the fifth time they got back to the base, Akito had the immense pleasure of having spilt only a very small quantity of water for which he didn't even need the cloth since he used his own sweatshirt's sleeve to wipe it clean.

'Good,' Bunta said, 'I think you're getting the hang of it, now, let's get back up, we still have two hours before you have to drive me back home so I can start making the tofu.'

'You're not tired?' Akito asked.

'Are you?' Bunta said using such a mocking tone of voice that Akito didn't even bother with replying to the question.

Meanwhile and a few thousand kilometres away from there, the Takawara Racing Team was waking up for what it would be a very challenging race in the street circuit of Guia, situated in the Chinese semi-independent province of Macao.

'Morning,' Hiroki said to Kojiro as they met in the hotel's elevator to go down to the breakfast room, 'did you sleep well?'

'Yes, of course,' Kojiro said, 'you didn't?'

'Nope,' Hiroki replied, 'I can't sleep well when I'm away from home.'

'Get used to it,' Kojiro advised, 'us professional racers get to sleep at home very rarely.'

'I know,' Hiroki said then, the two of them walked out of the elevator and made their way to the table where their team was already eating their breakfast.

'Good morning guys,' Kizuna said, as usual the friendliest face amongst all of the technical crew.

'Bonjour,' Kojiro said to her making her smile.

'Can we speak in normal, please?' Kenta complained, 'it's too early for French.'

Kojiro and Kizuna started laughing while Hiroki tried his best not to do the same.

'Okay guys,' they all heard Keisuke say as he and Takumi joined the rest of the team, 'we've just received the latest weather reports and it seems like it's going to be raining.'

'Great,' Kizuna said, all hilarity gone to be replaced with a worried frown.

'Business as usual,' Kyosuke commented, 'now that we were happy with the settings, we'll have to change them all over again.'

'At least we have some warning,' Hiroki said before he could stop himself and, before he could earn himself a glare from the whole team, Kojiro hurried to add:

'He's right, no use seeing the glass half empty.'

They all looked at him and they slowly started nodding their agreement then, Fumihiro got up and said:

'Kenta and I will go ahead to start preparing things.'

'Okay,' Keisuke said, 'we will join you the minute the interviews are over.'

'Interviews?' Hiroki asked.

'Yes,' Keisuke replied, 'we're scheduled to have a couple of interviews before the race with TV Tokyo, do you have any problems with that?'

'No,' Hiroki said, 'of course not, it's just that…'

'Don't worry,' Keisuke interrupted him, 'I don't think they're going to ask you anything about Hashimoto or Kobita and even if they do, we'll be there with you.'

Hiroki was left speechless by this completely unexpected display of support and, choosing to remain silent, he just poured some coffee into his cup so he could begin to have his breakfast then, ten minutes later, he and Kojiro followed Takumi and Keisuke to a small conference room where a TV crew was ready to interview them.

'Hello,' a pretty female journalist said, 'and thank you for your time,' she added.

'You're welcome,' Keisuke said shaking the hand she was offering him.

'Now,' the journalist said looking at Hiroki the minute they were all sitting down and once the camera had started recording, 'you have changed team twice this year, how does that feel?'

'Er…' Hiroki hesitated, 'well, it's…I…'

'Don't mind the camera,' the journalist advised.

'I don't know,' Hiroki said, 'it's not like if it was my choice.'

'Wasn't it?' the journalist asked and then a panicked Hiroki glanced at Keisuke begging him for help then, seeing he wasn't getting any, he decided to take a deep breath before replying:

'Several things have happened and I had to race for another team for a couple of races.'

'Does any of these things relate to Hashimoto Ken's arrest and Kobita's disqualification from the championship?' the journalist asked.

'No, that happened later,' Hiroki replied.

'Then what was the reason for this sudden change?' the journalist kept pressing him.

'It's personal,' Hiroki said as firmly as he could, 'and I can't discuss it with you because it involves other people.'

'Ah, I see,' the journalist said sounding rather disappointed then, Hiroki saw something which shocked him: both Keisuke and Takumi gave him a nod of approval, 'anyway, so Tsuchiya-kun, you still haven't won any races, do you think today you'll win this one?'

Kojiro glanced at the journalist with his usual innocent looking face and, shrugging his shoulders, he said:

'I don't know, if I knew these things beforehand, I wouldn't be a racer, I'd be a clairvoyant.'

The cameraman let out a badly stifled chuckle as Takumi, Keisuke and Hiroki tried to keep themselves from laughing too, making the poor journalist feel so frustrated that, after that, she only managed to ask a few other, a lot milder questions.

'Well done,' Keisuke said patting Hiroki on his shoulder.

'T-thanks,' the twenty year old stuttered and, after getting a smile full of encouragement from Kojiro, Hiroki followed him and his two team mangers to the boxes where the team's technical staff was already doing the final checks to the two cars.

'Take them out at eighty percent for ten laps then get back in here so we can re-check the settings,' Takumi ordered to his two drivers.

'Yes, sir,' Kojiro said while Hiroki nodded too.

'It's working,' Keisuke commented to Takumi the minute both cars were driving down the pit lane.

'I don't know,' Takumi said, 'it's too soon to tell.'

'Quit being this negative, okay?' Keisuke asked, 'the kid seems to be trying very hard.'

'I thought that you, of all people, would…'

'I, of all people,' Keisuke interrupted him, 'appreciate the fact of getting a second chance.'

Takumi stared at his former best enemy and, suddenly understanding his point of view, he nodded and said:

'You're right, he is trying.'

'Can we be nicer to him then?' Keisuke asked.

'No, it's too soon,' Takumi replied sounding pretty much inflexible, 'he hasn't learnt his lesson yet.'

'Geez man, you're getting as bad as your father,' Keisuke commented hoping to offend him with that.

'Akito thinks so too,' Takumi said instead.

Shaking his head, Keisuke decided to stop trying to piss Takumi off and started paying attention to the telemetry data which was coming from the cars' transponders then, as Hiroki and Kojiro were covering their seventh lap, Takumi felt a raindrop on his forehead.

'It's raining,' he commented.

'Great,' Keisuke said sarcastically, 'we better call them in,' he added.

They did and by the time the race was scheduled to start, the rain was falling so heavily that they didn't even bother with the intermediate tyres, selecting the full rain ones instead.

'Take it easy,' Kyosuke advised to Hiroki as the racer prepared himself to get back in the car so he could drive it to the grid, 'the race is forty six laps long so there's no need to push it too much at first.'

'I know,' Hiroki said, 'by the way, the car feels fantastic.'

'Thanks,' Kyosuke said, 'it's also because of your input we managed to get it that way.'

For the umpteenth time and as he climbed into the car, Hiroki felt horrible remembering how much of an as he'd been to these guys and, as he rolled out of the garage, he felt very grateful that Akito had decided to give him another opportunity to show everyone that he too was capable of being professional.

With that new resolution in mind, Hiroki parked his car in the third slot in the grid, Kojiro was up in the front having claimed the pole position and, between the two yellow, white and black Takawara, they had a green car belonging to the Arden International Team which was driven by some French guy whose name only Kojiro seemed to be able to pronounce.

Behind him, Hiroki had the white and black PIAA-Tanaka driven by the British guy who'd won that fateful Suzuka race. Missing from the grid were the two bright orange cars belonging to the Kobita Team which, of course, had been disqualified from the GP-2 championship after the whole scandal involving Hashimoto.

At long last, the lights turned green so the formation lap could start and neither Hiroki nor any other of the twenty three drivers had the time to think about anything else other than trying to keep their cars stuck to the extremely wet tarmac.

'Shit,' Hiroki muttered as he felt the back of his car sliding outwards.

'Easy,' he heard Kyosuke say.

When the race finally started, Hiroki was absolutely sure that not even half of the cars would finish for there was no way on earth one could drive in these conditions: ahead of him, and as he cleared the first corner, Hiroki could only see a curtain of white, sprayed water instead of the green car which was immediately after that, or so Hiroki supposed, for he couldn't even see the little red light which was placed at the rear of every single one of the twenty four cars.

'Where's Kojiro?' he asked Kyosuke.

'Still ahead, don't worry about him,' Kyosuke replied.

Easier said than done, Hiroki thought as he tried to negotiate a very sharp corner which was only delimited by two very fragile looking guardrails used to cover the wall of a very tall building.

Oh gosh, Hiroki thought as he saw the rear tyre of his car grazing one of those guardrails. He was going to kill himself if it didn't stop raining soon so, breathing rather heavily, Hiroki tried his best to keep his car on the right line, praying for all that was holy that the green car he had ahead of him would have the good sense of braking where it was supposed to.

Finally, at the end of the sixth lap, Hiroki saw the little red light which told him that he had, at long last, managed to catch up with the French guy.

'Don't overtake him,' he heard Takumi say.

'But…'

'Don't do it,' Takumi repeated.

Hiroki swore quite viciously, being careful to do so only mentally, as he prepared himself to stick the front wing of his car to the Arden's rear one then, once that was done, he waited patiently until he would get his team's permission to overtake him.

'NOW!' he then heard Takumi shout.

Hiroki was only too happy to comply with that order as he veered to the outside of the corner and, using the extra throttle he knew he had, he pushed his car ahead of the green one, passing him just in time to get ahead of him at the start of a short straight which led to yet another series of tight corners.

'I've done it!' Hiroki shouted happily.

'Oh crap,' he heard Takumi say with such a gloomy tone that Hiroki no longer understood anything.

'What's up?' the twenty year old asked.

'Kojiro's in trouble,' Keisuke replied.

Just as Hiroki heard that he saw as his team mate's car was indeed slowing down quite dramatically and, before he could do anything to prevent it, he saw himself forced to overtake Kojiro too.

'Oh no,' Hiroki muttered and, as he took the command of the race, the only thing he could think of was that Akito was definitely not going to be happy about this.

_To be continued…_


	30. Chapter Twenty Nine

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Twenty Nine_

The sound of the front door being shut distracted Akito's attention from the TV screen on which he was re-watching the Macao GP2 race, having just reached the point where Kojiro was making his slow progression down the pit lane. Akito already knew what had happened next: the Takawara Racing team had managed just in time to fix the broken front wing, ultimately allowing the eighteen year old racer to finish in seventh position.

'What is this?' Takumi asked his son as he dropped his small suitcase on the floor, 'some sort of self-punishment?' he added a tad on the sarcastic side.

'Not really,' Akito replied stopping the image where it was so he could look at his father, 'like I told you on the phone, I'm not mad at Hiroki.'

'I know,' Takumi said, 'there wasn't anything he could do really.'

'Nope,' Akito agreed, 'I'm actually rather impressed that he managed to keep a cool enough head so he could finish the race while keeping his position.'

'Me too,' Takumi said collapsing onto the couch, 'where are Mum and Haruko?' he then asked.

'Mum is at the school,' Akito replied, 'some sort of staff meeting, I'm not sure. Haruko's at Uncle Itsuki's.'

'Ah, I see,' Takumi said, 'and you? What are you doing home alone at this time of the afternoon?'

'Getting bored off my mind mostly,' Akito replied, 'Seisuke's working and Ryoko's gone with her mum and Misa for the final fitting of her wedding dress.'

'That's right,' Takumi said, 'only two more weeks. How are you feeling?'

'I'm okay, I guess,' Akito replied then, his father looked at him for a couple of seconds before nodding.

'Kojiro asked me to give you this,' Takumi said shoving at him a small white envelope.

'What is it?' Akito asked, taking it in his hands and eyeing it with curiosity.

'No idea,' Takumi replied then, pushing himself up from the sofa, he said, 'I'm going to have a shower.'

'Alright,' Akito said distractedly as he opened the envelope. Inside it, he found only a tiny card with one single word:

CHALLENGE

'What the…' the nineteen year old muttered then, forgetting all about the race, he pulled his mobile phone out of one of the front pockets of his jeans to dial Kojiro's number.

'I take your father just got home,' it was Kojiro's reply.

'Yeah,' Akito said, 'what's that…'

'I'm challenging you to a race,' Kojiro replied even before Akito had the time to finish the question.

'Why?' Akito asked.

'Let's just say that I happened to overhear your father as he was telling you about the result of the race,' Kojiro replied, keeping such a neutral tone of voice that Akito had a lot of trouble trying to understand whether his team mate was upset or not.

'Kojiro…'

'I'm not angry,' the younger man said, 'I'm just curious to find out the reason why you thought I needed Hiroki's help to win this race.'

'No, listen…'

'And that's the reason why I'm challenging you,' Kojiro finished.

'No, look,' Akito said getting slightly desperate, 'you don't understand I…'

'Precisely,' Kojiro interrupted him once again, 'I don't understand any of it and, in order to make sure I do, I want to race you: if you win, then I'll have the confirmation that I still have loads to learn from you. If you lose…well, then I'll just be happy because I've won.'

'Kojiro, we don't need to do that,' Akito insisted as he got up from the sofa to start pacing up and down the living room, 'listen, I needed to make sure Hiroki understood the importance of working as a team. That's why I told him that…'

'It doesn't matter,' Kojiro said, 'I've been dying to race against you and I think this is the right opportunity for us to do so.'

'But, you don't even have a car…'

'I do,' Kojiro said, 'my grandfather finally managed to get me the car I wanted and he's been working on it too.'

'I see…'

'So, when and where can we race?' Kojiro asked.

'You know I don't have any weekend free until the end of July,' Akito replied.

'What about this weekend?' Kojiro insisted.

'Kojiro,' Akito said, 'this weekend is my stag party, remember?'

'I know,' Kojiro replied, 'and I also know that we're going to be going up Mt Akina. I can't think of a better place for us to race.'

With a loud sigh of resignation, Akito finally surrendered as he said:

'Fine, we'll race this Saturday night, okay?'

'Great, it's going to be loads of fun!' Kojiro exclaimed with such a friendly tone of voice that it sounded rather weird and, as Akito pressed the button to end the call, he felt the need to sit down so his brain could start processing the whole conversation.

Almost a week later, Akito parked his V-86 in the car park by the Mt Akina's Lake where he could already see most of the Golden Arrows, including the two RZ-1s belonging to the Takahashi brothers plus a few other cars and, as he turned the Toyota's new engine off, the nineteen year old still couldn't believe that his last race as a bachelor was going to be against the guy who, only a few days ago, had agreed to act as his best man.

'OH MY GOD!' Seisuke exclaimed seeing Akito climbing out of the new-and-improved V-86.

'What have you done to it?' Kyosuke asked as he too rushed to admire all the work Akito's grandfather had done to the car.

'I kind of wanted it to be a surprise,' Akito replied, scratching the back of his head.

'Okay, I'm surprised,' Kyosuke said, 'turn it back on, I want to hear that engine again.'

'Kojiro hasn't seen this, has he?' Seisuke asked Akito.

'No, but…'

'No wonder he challenged you so lightly,' Kyosuke said.

'Yeah,' Junya added as he, Shinji and the rest of the Golden Arrows joined their top three drivers, 'with this baby, you can beat anyone you want.'

Shinji was about to agree with his best friend when the sound of another car's engine interrupted him.

'What the…' Kyosuke said.

'No way,' Seisuke added then, as he looked from the newcomer's car to Akito, he asked, 'you don't think…'

'Yeah, I think so,' Akito replied as he waited for the jade green V-86 to come to a stop next to his panda coloured one then, as the nineteen year old fully expected, they all saw Kojiro climbing out of it.

'You like it?' Kojiro asked him.

'Nice car,' Taro said as he and Jiro walked towards the group.

'I like the colour,' Jiro commented.

'My grandfather painted it like his old S15,' Kojiro said then, glancing back at Akito, he added, 'after you let me drive yours, I couldn't get anything else but a V-86. I really hope you don't mind.'

'No,' Akito finally managed to say, 'of course not. It's not like I have the exclusive on the V-86s anyway.'

'I'm glad you're okay with it,' Kojiro said smiling at Akito in his usual friendly, almost innocent way, 'so, when do you want to start the race?' the eighteen year old asked.

'Wait a minute Kojiro,' Kyosuke said, 'this is Akito's last weekend as a bachelor: let him have some fun first, okay?'

'Yes,' Taro said, 'Kosugi and I were about to start our race anyway.'

'Ah, sorry, I didn't know that,' Kojiro hurried to say, 'in that case, we can race after them, can't we?' he asked looking at Akito.

'Sure,' Akito replied, 'why not?'

'Great,' Seisuke said, 'now that we're all here, let's the party begin!'

Using a few of the cars' extremely powerful sound systems, soon the entire car park was full of very loud music while a few of the Golden Arrows started driving up and down the pass, drifting in formation as their way to wish every happiness to Akito.

'Guys, thanks for this, it really is a great party,' the nineteen year old commented to his two best friends.

'Don't you go and get all emotional on us,' Seisuke warned him.

'I'm not…'

'You know,' Kyosuke interrupted him, 'I can't believe you're surpassing us again.'

'What do you mean?' Akito asked.

'Well,' Kyosuke replied, 'you're a lot younger than we are and yet, you're the first one of the three who's going to get married.'

'Not that we're surprised by this,' Seisuke added, 'you've been with our baby cousin since forever.'

'That's right,' Kyosuke agreed.

'And now,' Seisuke added passing his arm around Akito's shoulders, 'we're finally going to be family for real.'

'Come on, guys,' Akito said as he felt some strange sensation growing in his chest then, pretending that he was just clearing his throat, he said, 'let's just watch the race, okay?'

'He's getting emotional,' Seisuke said to his older brother as he observed Akito walk towards Kojiro who was showing his new car to Junya, Shinji, Masato and Izawa.

'You too,' Kyosuke countered teasingly.

'Yeah, but at least I admit it,' Seisuke replied with a cheeky grin.

Ten minutes later, Taro and Jiro had their rides lined up for the race which was supposed to be their wedding gift to Akito as well as a challenge between the leaders of the Myogi Devils and the Tochigi Thunders.

'It's kind of a pity Hiroki's not here,' Kojiro commented to Akito as they waited for the countdown to begin.

'Why?' Akito asked his team mate.

'I know it's too soon to tell,' Kojiro replied, 'but he was like a completely different person during the whole of the last weekend.'

'Kojiro,' Akito said, 'no offence or anything but, I've seen this kind of sudden change before in him. Only last year and after my grandfather took him for one of his 'spins', Hiroki seemed like he wanted to work for the team. Then all of this happened and…'

'Akito, I know that thinking like this is hard for you because you can't be objective about it but, if you look at it from the outside, you can see that Hiroki was put in a very difficult position.'

'He placed himself in it,' Akito countered.

'Did he?' Kojiro asked raising his eyebrows in disbelief, 'since when do we choose who we fall in love with?'

Akito looked at Kojiro and, once again, was shocked to see the high level of maturity the eighteen year old displayed.

'You're right,' he finally admitted, 'after all, it wasn't easy for me either when I realised I was in love with Ryoko.'

'I know what you mean,' Kojiro said, 'when I fell in love with Isabelle, I thought I would get thrown out of the team.'

'She's your old chief engineer's daughter, isn't she?' Akito asked.

'Yep,' Kojiro replied, 'I couldn't believe my luck when I realised that she returned my feelings: I know I'm far from being the best looking guy alive and in all honesty, I never dreamed of having anything else other than a one-sided thing with her.'

'It was the same for me with Ryoko. If it hadn't been because of her…'

'Well,' Kojiro said, 'try to remember how you felt back then, when you thought that Ryoko was nothing but an impossible dream and you'll understand how Hiroki's feeling right now.'

Akito stared at his team mate and, for the first time ever, he realised how extremely miserable his former ex-team mate had to be feeling then, Kojiro, seeing Akito's worried expression, he said:

'I think you kind of get the picture now.'

'Well, you do have a way to put everything in perspective,' Akito replied.

'It's the main advantage of seeing things from the outside,' Kojiro said shrugging his shoulders.

'Listen Kojiro,' Akito started, 'about our race, we really don't need to…'

'Are you kidding me?' Kojiro asked, 'like I've told you before: I've been dying to race against you ever since my grandfather started telling me about you and, to be honest, I really wouldn't want to have my very first race with my new car against anyone else but you.'

'But…'

'Seriously,' Kojiro insisted, 'please Akito, it'd mean the world to me if you would do me this favour.'

'Alright,' Akito said, 'I just don't want this to ruin our friendship.'

'Why would it?' Kojiro asked looking genuinely confused, 'both of our grandparents raced each other numerous times.'

'Yes but my grandfather won most of those races,' Akito countered.

'That's right. And look at them: they're still great friends, aren't they?' Kojiro said, 'besides, I really can't wait to see the results of the work they've done to our cars.'

'What?' Akito asked, 'how do you know about that?'

'Didn't your grandfather tell you?' Kojiro asked, 'he and my grandfather have been working together on both of our cars.'

'No, I didn't know that,' Akito replied, 'in that case,' he added sounding rather resolute, 'and since we're going to race in basically identical conditions, it'll be a pleasure racing against you.'

'Great,' Kojiro said grinning happily, 'now, let's try and pay attention to this battle, shall we?' he added pointing at the two cars who had just taken off before them.

'Right,' Akito said smiling back to him and, by the time the two teenagers started watching the race, the dark blue Mitsubishi X-3 belonging to Taro was already ahead of Jiro's mica coloured Honda Civic Coupe Si.

'He's improved again,' Akito heard Kyosuke say as he and his brother Seisuke joined him and Kojiro.

'Who has?' Kojiro asked.

'Nakazato,' Seisuke replied, 'he's a lot faster than when he raced against me.'

'It's a good thing you didn't challenge him,' Kyosuke commented to his younger brother.

'Aniki, you know I'm not going to accept any challenges before I finish upgrading my RZ-1,' Seisuke countered then, looking Akito's startled expression, he added, 'what? Did you think I would allow you two to leave my baby behind?'

'No, of course not,' Akito replied, 'I was kind of hoping you would do something to your car too. It's looking a bit outdated…'

'OUTDATED?' Seisuke shouted looking very offended, 'look, you're lucky you're marrying our baby cousin next week, if it weren't for that, I'd race you down the cliff, tonight!'

'Geez man,' Akito hurried to say, 'I was just kidding.'

'Outdated,' Seisuke huffed, 'as if.'

With that, the twenty three year old started walking towards his white RZ-1 muttering something to himself as he lighted himself a cigarette.

'I think you better go and apologise,' Kyosuke suggested trying to keep himself from laughing.

'Yeah,' Akito said and, with that, he started running after the younger of the two Takahashi brothers leaving two rather amused looking Kyosuke and Kojiro behind.

Meanwhile this happened, Jiro was feeling increasingly frustrated by the fact that Taro had not allowed him a single decent chance of overtake him and, because of this, he was starting to get rather impatient so, by the time they reached the first of the infamous series of five hairpins, the twenty four year old man from Tochigi tried to push his car through the impossibly small space left by the Mitsubishi.

'Shit,' Jiro muttered as he, once more, saw himself forced to brake then, taking a deep breath, he prepared himself to try again at the next hairpin.

Unfortunately for the Tochigi Thunder's leader, the Myogi Devils one was very much determined to win this race and it showed through the way he made his car drift into the next corner.

It had been a while since he had felt this pressed to win a race but, ever since his loss to the Kanto Kaisers' leader, Taro had vowed to himself that no one, perhaps excepting the Golden Arrows' top three drivers, would ever defeat him while racing in Gunma. Even less so if the challenger was a guy coming from another prefecture.

Pressing the accelerator as far as it went, he cleared the corner using the maximum speed his Mitsubishi had so he could get to the next one before Jiro could have the time to prepare another attack.

Having somehow managed to keep his place ahead the race, Taro prepared himself for what would be the last, desperate attempt by the Tochigi Thunder's leader and, as he prayed so that his car's tyres wouldn't betray him, Taro felt the rear bumper of his X-3 being grazed by the Honda's front one.

'No fucking way you're passing me now!' he shouted.

A few seconds later, Junya pressed the button to close the communication with the base's representative and, walking towards his team's leader, he said:

'Nakazato's won.'

'I knew he would,' Kyosuke said.

'We're next,' Kojiro announced.

'I'm actually looking forward to this race,' Kyosuke commented.

'Me too,' Kojiro said and, with that, the three men made their way to Seisuke's RZ-1 where Akito was still apologising to its owner.

_To be continued…_


	31. Chapter Thirty

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Thirty_

As he made his way to his V-86, Akito pulled his phone out of his pocket and, following an almost two year old tradition, he pressed the button to dial his fiancée's mobile phone number.

'What are you doing?' Izawa asked him.

'Calling Ryoko,' Akito replied as he put the phone onto his ear.

'Now?' Masato exclaimed, 'isn't she having her hen night?'

'It's a tradition,' Kyosuke explained, 'Akito never races without speaking to her first.'

'He did once,' Seisuke added, 'and we all know what happened.'

Both Takahashi brothers looked at their best friend frowning momentarily as they remembered the horrible day when Akito had almost died after crashing his GP2 car in a truly terrifying way.

'Hi baby, it's me,' Akito said.

'Akito!' Ryoko shouted for she seemed to be someplace where they were playing some very loud music, 'you didn't manage to convince Kojiro not to race you, did you?'

'No, so I'm about to race him,' Akito replied.

'COME ON AKITO,' Seisuke suddenly yelled, 'THE GIRLS ARE GETTING COLD!'

'Girls? What girls?' Ryoko asked sounding most definitely not impressed.

'No, no,' Akito hurried to say as he glared at Seisuke, 'that's just your cousin messing around.'

'Really?' the girl asked still sounding rather incredulous.

'Baby,' Akito said, 'there isn't a single girl up here, I promise.'

There was a two second long silence before Ryoko said:

'Okay, I trust you.'

'I trust you too,' Akito continued, 'which is why I didn't want to know what you girls are doing.'

'We're…'

'No,' Akito stopped her, 'I seriously don't want to know.'

'Okay,' Ryoko said, 'just be careful, okay?'

'I will be,' he replied, 'have fun and I'll see you tomorrow, okay?'

'Sure, I love you,' Ryoko said.

'Me too,' Akito replied before closing the call then, turning to look at Seisuke with an angered expression on his face, he exclaimed, 'are you out of your mind?'

'Hey,' an amused looking Seisuke said putting both of his hands up, 'you insulted my car and I got you in trouble with your wife-to-be, I'd say we're even.'

Akito went to respond to that when he remembered that he had Kojiro waiting for him so they could start their race. Because of this, he decided to let it be for now so, after glaring at Seisuke once more, the nineteen year old just opened the V-86's door so he could climb into it.

'I think you've overdone it,' Kyosuke whispered to his younger brother as he observed Akito turning the new engine of his car on.

'Nah,' Seisuke replied, 'you know how much they trust each other. Besides, I did it to put Akito in the right mood for this race.'

Kyosuke looked at him for a short while before shaking his head in defeat.

'Sometimes the way your mind works scares me.'

'Aniki, the way your mind works scares me all the time,' Seisuke countered.

Letting out a soft chuckle, Kyosuke, with his younger brother following immediately behind him, started making his way to the start line of what was probably going to be one of the best races of the year.

'Let's give the best we have,' Kojiro said as Akito climbed out of his panda coloured V-86 which was now lined up with a jade green version of it.

'Alright,' Akito agreed then, the two teenagers exchanged a brief handshake and they got back into their cars.

Then, the twenty odd men who were there observed as the two drivers re-started their cars' engines and, just after Izawa gave them the 'go', they all saw the two V-86s taking off so staggeringly fast that, behind them, they left a cloud of smoke coming from the burnt up rubber.

'What the…' Seisuke said as he watched Kojiro's V-86 taking the lead of the race.

'Crap,' Kyosuke muttered, 'Akito shouldn't have let him do that.'

'Why not?' Junya asked him.

'Don't you always say that it's okay to be behind at the start?' Masato asked too.

'Yes,' Kyosuke replied, 'but not for this race. Akito should have taken the lead.'

'I agree with you, Aniki,' Seisuke added.

'Is that kid so good?' Jiro asked them.

Kyosuke glanced at the Tochigi Thunders' leader before nodding.

'Kojiro's probably the only one among us who can beat Akito in this course,' the older of the two Takahashi brothers replied.

'Holy crap,' Taro said.

'I couldn't have put it in better words,' Seisuke added.

Meanwhile, Akito didn't see things quite this pessimistically for, he thought, there were plenty of corners and other places where he could easily overtake Kojiro and, for this reason, he felt pretty confident that he could allow his team mate to stay ahead of the race for at least another couple of corners.

'It'll be fine,' he added, talking to himself, 'as long as I keep up.'

As the race went on, that positive outlook was quickly corrected when, after the third corner, Akito saw that Kojiro's V-86 was starting to pull away.

'No way,' Akito muttered.

'What's wrong?' he then heard Kyosuke ask him over the Golden Arrows' reserved radio channel.

'Is he still ahead?' Seisuke added.

'Yeah,' Akito replied, 'and if I don't pass him soon I think I'm going to be in a lot of trouble.'

'Take it easy,' Kyosuke advised his best friend, 'this is your home course and you know it almost as well as your father and grandfather do.'

'I know,' Akito said, 'now, no offence or anything, but I'm kind of busy.'

Clicking twice with their radios, the two brothers acknowledged that and left their best friend alone so he could start planning the first of his attacks. He then started using the best drifting techniques he'd learned from his grandfather and, thankfully enough, Akito began to close the gap between him and Kojiro.

Only then he noticed something strange:

As he drove around one of the high speed corners of the course, he realised that Kojiro was driving exactly the same way he was then, believing that it was probably just a product of his over stressed imagination, Akito decided to pay attention to the way Kojiro entered the following corner.

There. He'd done it again, Akito thought as he observed that Kojiro seemed to be using the very same line, breaking at precisely the same spot and accelerating exactly the same way than what Akito was doing, making the nineteen year old feel as though as he was copying Kojiro's style.

Shaking his head briefly, Akito took a couple of deep breaths so he could start trying to think of a brand new strategy then, remembering about the time he'd raced against Kyosuke, he started changing his lines hoping that that would distract Kojiro.

It didn't work.

By the time they reached the five hairpins and with Akito getting rather desperate, he found himself with no other option but to try using the gutters but then, as he turned the steering wheel towards the inside of the corner so he could hook his car's tyres into the gutter he felt going all cold with shock as he realised that Kojiro was doing the same exact thing.

'What the…' he muttered as he was forced to watch Kojiro using the gutter at the following hairpin too then, thinking that he'd finally found a way to overtake him, Akito waited patiently for the next corner to come so he could drive outwards while he hoped that Kojiro would drive again into the gutter.

Kojiro, almost as if he were reading his team mate's mind, crushed Akito's hopes by driving on the outside of the corner, keeping the rear of his V-86 almost literally glued to the front bumper of Akito's V-86 rear one, not even allowing the nineteen year old enough space to veer inwards.

'Shit,' Akito muttered as he was forced to follow Kojiro into the third hairpin.

With Kojiro repeating the same pattern all over again and Akito getting increasingly worried, the two racers approached the fifth and final hairpin where, instead of going all out into it, the nineteen year old decided to slow down for a fraction of a second so he could see what his team mate did.

Outwards. Kojiro was driving outwards, leaving the gutter free for Akito.

'Great,' Akito muttered as he turned his car towards the inside of the corner where he hooked his car's tyres into the gutter while hoping that the extra acceleration that this particular technique offered would give Akito the advantage he so desperately needed.

It did and, for a very brief instant, Akito really thought he could get ahead of his team mate but then, as he unhooked his V-86's tyres, he saw that Kojiro, probably using every ounce of the power from the highly tuned engine of his car, pulled away from Akito just in time to make sure he could close the line into the short straight which followed the famous five hairpins.

'Fuck,' Akito breathed as he saw himself still behind the jade green V-86.

For the first time in his life, Akito didn't have a clue about what to do: although he'd been using every single one of the techniques he'd mastered in all the years he'd been driving, despite knowing Akina as well as he did and not even after the complete makeover his grandfather had done to the V-86, he still hadn't been able to overtake Kojiro.

Had he really used all the techniques he knew?

'Of course not!' he exclaimed all of a sudden.

There was still one card left to try and, luckily for Akito, there was still one good spot where it was possible to pass a car during a battle. He only needed to keep his car as close as possible to Kojiro's and, so far, he'd done a pretty good job at that.

A couple of corners later and as they approached the last few hundred meters of the course, Akito did what he'd only heard his father mention once…

'Where are you?' Kojiro asked as he stole a quick glance at the right side rear view mirror, feeling suddenly confused because he no longer could see Akito's car's headlights.

By the time the eighteen year old realised what was happening, it was a tad too late for him to do anything useful for when he finally saw Akito's V-86 headlights coming back on, the panda coloured car was already side by side with his and facing the inside of the very last corner of the course.

Flooring the accelerator as Akito entered the turn without even braking first he managed, at long last, to get ahead of Kojiro's V-86 then, not trusting his team mate at all, the nineteen year old kept his foot down until he finally crossed the finish line a few metres later.

'Oh god,' he breathed as he forced himself to stop the car.

He'd won. He still didn't know how, but he had managed to win this race.

'I've got to give it to you,' Kojiro said as the two teenagers climbed out of their cars, 'I wasn't expecting that…'

'You gave me no choice,' Akito replied, 'I really thought I would lose this time.'

'Oh well,' Kojiro said, 'like I said before this race, you've won so it's obvious to me that I still have much to learn from you.'

'I don't think so,' Akito countered, 'if I hadn't thought of the blind attack when I did, you would have won.'

'I guess so,' Kojiro said shrugging his shoulders, 'but we'll never know for sure. In any case, I love my new car.'

'It is a great car, isn't it?' Akito asked looking at his own V-86 lovingly.

'Definitely,' Kojiro replied, 'if it weren't because you're already part of a team, I'd ask you to team up with me. We could make a great pair.'

'We still can,' Akito said.

'What do you mean?' Kojiro asked.

'Well,' Akito started, 'if you got into the Golden Arrows, we could pair up our V-86s the same way Kyosuke and Seisuke do with their RZ-1s.'

Kojiro looked at him and, giving him a short nod, he said:

'You're right, I'll ask Kyosuke to see if there's any room for me in the team.'

'Mind you,' Akito said, 'to enter the team you've got to beat him.'

'Really?'

'Yep,' Akito replied.

'Crap,' Kojiro said frowning with worry, 'I don't think I'll manage to do that.'

'Hey,' Akito exclaimed, 'where's the eternally positive Kojiro we all know and like?'

Kojiro just laughed softly before saying:

'Let's go back up, the party's still on and, after all, it is your last weekend as a bachelor.'

When the two Toyotas got back up to the summit, the whole of the Golden Arrows celebrated the fact that Akito would be taking his marriage vows with his undefeated record very much intact. Even Kojiro himself, being as fair as not many people were, joined in the partying and, by the time they started thinking of going back home, it was already dawn.

Almost a week later, a very nervous Akito was trying for the fourth time to do his tie, failing again for his hands were shaking too badly for him to do anything useful with them.

'Let me help you,' Natsuki said stepping into her son's room.

'Yes please,' Akito begged her, 'I just…'

'Hey,' Natsuki said adopting her most motherly tone of voice, 'everything will be fine.'

'I hope so,' Akito replied not sounding very convinced, 'what if she doesn't show up?'

'What?' Natsuki asked him incredulously, 'don't be silly.'

'Oh crap, I'm so nervous,' Akito whispered while he tried to use the concentration techniques he applied while racing.

'Akito,' Natsuki said, 'you love Ryoko, don't you?'

'Of course,' Akito replied.

'You want to spend the rest of your life with her, don't you?'

'Yes,' Akito replied firmly.

'Then, don't worry about it,' Natsuki said, 'I know this is a huge day for you but, it's only a very small portion of the time that, from now on, you two will spend together.'

'Yeah, I know that,' Akito said.

'Don't worry about it then,' Natsuki repeated while she finished tying the knot of Akito's tie, 'there,' she added, 'you look so handsome.'

'Thanks,' Akito said as he stared at himself on the mirror, seeing an elegantly dressed young man. It seemed that even his usually unruly hair was behaving itself that day, 'you look great too, Mum,' he added.

'Thank you baby,' she said smiling happily, 'I'll go and see if your father's ready. He seems to be having problems with his tie too.'

Meanwhile, at the Takahashi's, Kyoko, Akiko, Kizuna and Misa were all helping Ryoko with her beautiful wedding dress, a princess cut one in a delicate shade of ivory silk covered by little pearls and sparkly bits thrown all over the skirt. It also had a floral motive embroidered onto the bodice which finished with two semi transparent sleeves made of the finest lace.

Ryoko's hair had been professionally tied up and she only had the lightest amount of make up which enhanced her already beautiful features.

'Oh god, you look so gorgeous,' Kyoko said feeling as though as she was going to cry.

'She does,' Kizuna agreed.

'Stop it, please,' Ryoko begged, 'you're going to make me even more nervous.'

'Are you nervous?' Misa asked her.

'What do you think?' Ryoko replied.

'It certainly doesn't look like it,' Akiko said, 'you seem pretty calm to me.'

'Really?' Ryoko asked, 'then what is this?' she added as she put her hand forward showing to everyone in the room how badly it was shaking.

'Oh god,' Kyoko said as she rushed to her daughter's side so she could take her hands into hers, 'you'll be fine, you'll see.'

'Yeah, sure,' Ryoko said, 'I just hope I won't faint as I walk up the aisle.'

'You won't,' Akiko assured her, 'you'll be too busy admiring Akito, trust me.'

'Aunt Akiko, I'm…'

She stopped talking as they heard someone ringing the house's front door's bell.

'That must be Yayoi,' Misa said.

'One of the boys will let her in,' Akiko said making Misa stop half way through to the door.

'Okay,' the girl said.

A few moments later, and as Kyoko was helping her daughter with her veil, the five women heard someone knocking on the door.

'Come in,' Ryoko said sounding happy that, at long last, her best friend from high school had arrived then, instead of Yayoi, the bride saw her cousin Kyosuke poking his head through the half open door.

'Ryoko, we have a problem.'

'What is it?' she asked apprehensively.

Kyosuke glanced around the room, stopping briefly to look at Kizuna, before he said:

'Hiroki's here: he refuses to leave until we allow him to speak to you.'

_To be continued…_


	32. Chapter Thirty One

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Thirty One_

Everyone in the room stared at Ryoko as though as if they were waiting for the girl to ask Kyosuke to tell Hiroki to go to hell and to leave the house immediately but, to their complete astonishment, the girl seemed to be considering the whole issue very carefully.

'Ryoko?' she heard her mother say.

'Kyosuke,' the girl said instead, 'please, ask Hiroki to wait for me in the living room.'

'What?' Kyoko exclaimed, 'darling…'

'Mum,' Ryoko said, 'if I don't do it…'

'Ryoko,' Akiko interrupted her 'I don't think it's a good idea either.'

'Aunt Akiko, Mum,' Ryoko said, 'please, let me handle this my way, okay?'

The two older women looked at each other as Kizuna, Misa and Kyosuke waited to see what happened then, talking to her son, Akiko said:

'Kyosuke, please go and do what she said.'

'Your father won't be happy about this,' Kyosuke replied looking at his cousin, 'if it weren't for Dad, Seisuke and I, I think he would have killed Hiroki for showing up today.'

'Then it's a good thing you guys were there,' Ryoko said to the older of her two cousins.

Five minutes later, and with Ryosuke and his sons literally shielding Hiroki from a murderous looking Keisuke, the racer was finally allowed into the Takahashi's residence. The four men of the family were then joined by Kyoko and Akiko while Misa and Kizuna helped Ryoko getting down the stairs.

'Wow,' Hiroki gasped seeing the object of his unrequited affections entering the living room dressed in her bridal attire.

'Suetsugu!' Keisuke barked warningly.

'Dad,' Ryoko said, 'and everyone else, can you please give us some privacy?'

'Baby…' Keisuke protested.

'Please, Dad.'

'Two minutes,' Keisuke said to his daughter, 'after that, we're off to the church where your husband-to-be is probably already waiting for you,' he added while looking at Hiroki.

'I know,' Ryoko replied, 'two minutes,' she agreed.

Albeit reluctantly, Keisuke and the rest of the family, finally left Hiroki and Ryoko alone in the living room.

'You look…'

'Hiroki,' the girl interrupted him, 'what are you doing in here?'

Hiroki stared at her for a short while, as he desperately tried to gather his thoughts back together for, after seeing her in her wedding dress he'd lost notion of both time and space. Not to mention the fact that this was the first time he was alone with her ever since that night when he'd tried, and failed, to steal her away from Akito.

'Hiroki…'

'I…I…wanted to…give you this…' he stuttered as he handed her two small enmusubi omamori, 'I got them this morning from our local temple.'

'Hiroki…'

'They're supposed to bring you luck for your marriage,' he explained as he showed her the two amulets, one pink, for her, and another one blue, for Akito.

'I know what they're for,' Ryoko said a tad on the dry side as she stared at his open hand without taking the little pouches he had on it.

'Well…I just…' he started then, seeing that she wasn't taking the omamori he closed his hand over them and said, 'I think I'll just go.'

With that he turned round and, before he had the time to start walking out of the room, Ryoko said:

'Hiroki, what do you want, really?'

'I…I wanted to ask you something,' Hiroki finally replied without turning back to face her.

'What is it?' Ryoko asked.

Hiroki turned slowly to look at her then, taking two steps towards her, he suddenly took one of her hands in his, scaring Ryoko so much that she had to keep herself from snatching it from his grasp.

'Don't be afraid of me, please,' Hiroki begged her.

'Hir…'

'I just wanted to ask you this,' he continued, 'if you had met me before you fell in love with Akito, would I have stood a chance?'

Ryoko stared at him wide-eyed then, shaking her head briefly, she replied:

'Hiroki, I've been in love with Akito ever since I met him, when I was five.'

'Ah…I see…' he said finally letting go of her hand then, letting out a mirthless chuckle, he said, 'I never had any hope then, did I?'

Ryoko winced because of the amount of desperate pain she heard in his voice then, finally making a move to take the two amulets from Hiroki she held his hands with hers and said:

'Hiroki, I'm sure that sometime very soon you will meet a girl who will love you as much as you'll love her.'

'Yeah, but she won't be you, will she?' Hiroki asked her bitterly.

'No, you know I can't be,' she replied letting go of his hands.

'I think that, deep down, I've always known that it was a lost battle from the very start, that's why I didn't want anyone to know, least of all you,' Hiroki explained.

'Hiroki…'

'Don't worry, contrary to popular belief, I know how to accept a defeat,' Hiroki said then, looking at the two omamori which were now in one of Ryoko's hands, he added, 'don't tell Akito that I've given them to you or he'll burn them.'

'He won't do that,' Ryoko countered, 'Hiroki, Akito can be very understanding when he wants to be, I should know.'

'He's a very lucky man,' Hiroki said nodding at her.

'I'm a very lucky girl too,' Ryoko added offering him a small smile.

'Right,' Hiroki said, 'I better go now or else your father will want my skin.'

'Hiroki, we would have invited you to the wedding but…'

'I wouldn't have come if you had,' Hiroki admitted, 'but thanks for the thought.'

'Thank you for the omamori,' Ryoko said.

'You're welcome,' Hiroki replied, 'I really hope they bring you all the happiness in the world.'

Ryoko simply nodded to that and, after looking at her for just a few more seconds, Hiroki finally left the room, showing himself out of the house then, without even explaining to her family what had just happened, Ryoko asked her father to take her to the church. They all arrived there only ten minute after the ceremony was supposed to start and, as they all made it to their seats, Kyosuke and Seisuke exchanged a glance with Akito who looked even whiter than usual.

'He's nervous,' Kojiro mouthed to them, earning himself a glare from the groom.

The two Takahashi brothers started laughing as quietly as they could, having to stop when the music announced that the bride was about to enter the church then, as it was customary, everyone stood up and they all stared at the door.

'Wow,' Akito gasped seeing, at long last, his wife-to-be walking up the aisle grabbing her father's arm for support.

'C'est vraiment magnifique,' Kojiro muttered but Akito was to busy admiring Ryoko to even complain about the rather annoying habit his team mate had of speaking French whenever he spoke to or about beautiful girls.

The music stopped only when Ryoko reached Akito then, as she went to walk to his side, something funny happened:

'Dad,' she whispered urgently.

'What?' Keisuke asked.

'My arm,' the girl replied pointing at it with her free hand, 'you need to let go of it.'

'Ah, right,' Keisuke said then, looking rather reticent to do so, he finally released his daughter's arm so she could join Akito. Unable to help himself, Keisuke glared at Akito almost as though as if he were having second thoughts about letting this whole thing happen.

'I'll take good care of her, I promise,' Akito assured him speaking very seriously.

'Right,' Keisuke repeated then, Kyoko finally came to get her husband so the ceremony could begin.

An hour after that, the now Mr and Mrs Akito Fujiwara walked out of the church under a rain of white, blue and pink confetti.

'This is the happiest day of my life,' Ryoko announced as she and Akito stepped into the limousine which would take them to the restaurant.

'I hope not,' Akito said then, seeing her puzzled look, he explained, 'I certainly hope we'll be this happy or even happier in the years to come.'

'That's right,' Ryoko agreed then, remembering about the omamori, she took them out of a fold in her dress and, giving them to Akito, she said, 'Hiroki gave me those this morning.'

'What?' Akito exclaimed staring at the two amulets.

'I think we've all seriously misunderstood him,' Ryoko said, 'he's a really good person. He's only a bit…'

'Dry?' Akito suggested.

'I was going to say tactless but I guess dry works too,' Ryoko said, 'in any case, he's not that bad.'

'I know he's not,' Akito said, 'but he shouldn't have…'

'Akito,' Ryoko interrupted him, 'let's forget about him. We're married now and I know he's definitely given up on me. I don't think we will have any more problems because of him.'

'You're absolutely right,' Akito said then, giving her his best grin, he took her left hand which now sported two rings: the white gold one he'd given her a few months before and the brand new platinum one which had a series of little rectangular shaped diamonds studded all around it.

'It's beautiful,' Ryoko commented as she looked at her wedding ring, 'it's a pity you couldn't get an identical one for you too.'

'Nah,' Akito said, 'I'd look silly with it. I prefer mine,' he added observing his plain platinum band which was now in the place of the white gold one he had worn up to that day.

'I can't believe you're my husband now!' Ryoko suddenly exclaimed and, not caring about the fact that the limo driver could see them, she hugged him so tightly that Akito started laughing out loud.

The whole reception and the meal which followed went without a glitch and, after Akito and Ryoko opened the dances, the rest of the couples went to join them at the dance floor.

'Having fun?' Seisuke asked Misa as he led her following the rhythm of a very slow tune.

'Yes,' Misa replied, 'Ryoko really looks amazing.'

'She does,' Seisuke agreed, 'but so do you.'

'Oh, Seisuke the flatterer,' Misa joked smiling as she did so.

'Listen,' Seisuke said, 'I meant to ask you this earlier.'

'What is it?' Misa asked.

'You're still of the idea of us not getting married, aren't you?'

'Why are you asking me that?' Misa said, her smile replaced by a concerned frown.

'Well,' Seisuke started, 'I just…I…'

'Seisuke,' Misa interrupted him, making them stop dancing in the process, 'are you trying to propose?'

'Are you going to accept if I do?' Seisuke asked her looking very serious.

'Seisuke…'

'Hey,' the doctor said, 'I just think we should do it but, if you don't…'

'Seisuke,' Misa repeated, 'I think you're letting yourself get influenced by the romanticism of this party.'

'No…'

'But,' Misa interrupted him again, 'if you ask me again once this wedding is over, I will consider saying yes.'

'Really?' Seisuke asked raising his eyebrows in disbelief.

'Yes,' Misa said.

'Alright,' Seisuke said feeling ten centimetres taller, 'then I may consider asking you again.'

'Seisuke,' Misa exclaimed slapping him on his arm but smiling as she did so, 'you're a horrible person,' she added.

'I know,' Seisuke said, 'but you're crazy about me.'

'I am,' Misa admitted making Seisuke let out a happy chuckle.

'Someone's having loads of fun,' Kizuna commented as she and Kyosuke joined them.

'We are,' Misa said then, the girl had a sudden idea and, taking her friend's hand, she dragged Kizuna away from them so she could speak to her in private.

'What's going on?' Kyosuke asked his younger brother.

'With those two, goodness knows,' Seisuke replied shrugging his shoulders.

'So, our baby cousin is married,' Kyosuke said.

'What's even more unbelievable is that Akito is now a married man,' Seisuke countered.

'Yeah,' Kyosuke agreed, 'and so will I in a few more months.'

'Aniki, be quiet please: you're making me feel so old,' Seisuke said with a desperate tone of voice which made his older brother burst out laughing.

All and all, Ryoko and Akito's wedding was even more beautiful than what the young newlyweds had dreamed it would be and they were almost sorry that they had to leave the party so that they could go to the Seiyo five star hotel in Ginza, Tokyo; there, Akito and Ryoko would spend their first night as a married couple before travelling to Narita where they would board their flight to Barcelona, Spain, for their two weeks long honeymoon.

Four days after his son's wedding, Takumi was at the Centre helping his daughter with her daily training when he saw his friend Iketani parking his car. Taking a quick look at Haruko's progressions in her kart and after making sure he could do so, he walked away from the small karting track so he could go to where Iketani and his son Hikaru were.

'Hey,' Takumi exclaimed, 'to what do we owe this honour?'

'Very funny,' Iketani said humourlessly, 'it's not like I never come here.'

Takumi looked at his former workmate with a disbelieving expression on his face, then, not wanting to waste too much time for Haruko was going around the circuit unsupervised, he said:

'What can we do for you?' Takumi asked.

'Oh…' Iketani started but then, they got interrupted by the sudden arrival of Haruko who had obviously interrupted her training session without Takumi noticing it.

'You're here!' the eleven year old girl exclaimed seeing Hikaru, 'great!' she added.

'What's going on?' Takumi asked her.

'That's what I was trying to say…' Iketani replied.

'She's challenged me to a race,' Hikaru explained, interrupting his father in the process.

'What?' Takumi exclaimed looking from Hikaru to Haruko and then back to Hikaru, 'and you've accepted?'

'It seems like it,' Iketani replied.

'Shall we go then?' Haruko asked.

'Wait for a minute young lady,' Takumi said, 'who said anything about you being allowed to do this?'

'Dad…'

'Takumi-san, I don't mind,' Hikaru said.

'Well, I happen to mind,' Takumi countered so dryly that he made the now fifteen year old flinch quite visibly.

'Hey Takumi,' Iketani started, 'why don't we let them race?'

'Yes, Daddy, why not?' Haruko asked.

'Haruko,' Takumi said, 'Hikaru's a lot older than you are and…'

'Don't you start with the age thing,' Haruko warned her father, 'I've beaten kids who are older than me and you know it.'

'Yes but…'

'Takumi-san,' Hikaru tried again, 'I really would like to race with your daughter.'

Takumi stared at the teenager with a horrified expression almost as though as if Hikaru had just asked him to let him have sex with Haruko.

'Hey, Takumi!' they then heard Keisuke shout as he rushed towards them.

'What's up?' Takumi asked him.

'I've got Ryoko on the phone: she said Akito wants to tell you something,' Keisuke replied once he'd reached them, 'what's going on?'

'Apparently,' Takumi explained, 'Haruko's challenged Hikaru to a race…'

'That's a great idea,' Keisuke said, 'now, take this phone call, they're calling from Europe, you know.'

Takumi glared at Keisuke as he took the mobile phone from him then, as he was busy talking to Akito, Keisuke looked at Haruko and said:

'Why do you want to race him?'

'Oh, that's easy,' Haruko replied with nonchalance, 'if I can beat him, I'll forget about him because there's no way I can like someone who's slower than I am.'

Keisuke, and Iketani and Hikaru, all stared at the tiny eleven year old with such incredulous expressions on their faces that, by the time Takumi finished his conversation with his son and as he observed the scene, he could not help but to smile then, all of a sudden, Keisuke burst out laughing so loudly that it startled everyone there.

'What's so funny?' Takumi asked him.

'Oh, nothing,' Keisuke explained, 'you'll understand one of these days.'

'Wh…' Takumi started again, only to be interrupted by his daughter who, crossing her arms on her still flat chest, looked to Hikaru and said:

'So, shall we race?'

Hikaru looked at the three older men before glancing back at her and say:

'Sure, why not?'

_To be continued…_


	33. Chapter Thirty Two

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Thirty Two_

Before her father had the time to express any more objections, Haruko took Hikaru by his hand and started to literally drag him towards the karting track, refusing to acknowledge any of the protests which might have come from either the fifteen year old boy or from any of the three adults who were now watching the scene with various degrees of astonishment.

'Don't look at me,' a grinning Keisuke said to Takumi, 'she's your daughter.'

'Don't remind me,' Takumi begged him then, realising that fighting with the little girl was as useless as trying to win an argument against her mother, he decided to surrender to the inevitable and started making his way to join his daughter.

'This is going to be fun,' Keisuke commented to Iketani and the former Lonely Driver nodded his agreement.

Fifteen minutes later, Keisuke, Iketani and Takumi observed as Haruko climbed into her kart while a now suited up Hikaru did the same then, they both rolled their small vehicles towards the starting line.

'You go ahead first,' Haruko shouted to Hikaru so he could hear her over the loud drone coming from their karts' engines, 'I'll follow you a few seconds later.'

Before Hikaru could ask her the reason behind this request, Takumi rushed to his daughter's side and said:

'Haruko, don't you think you're being a bit too bigheaded about this?'

'No,' the girl replied shaking her helmeted head, 'I want to be sure he doesn't let me win on purpose.'

'Why would he do that?' Takumi asked her.

'Daddy, weren't you listening earlier?' the eleven year old girl asked then, replying to her own question, she added, 'if I win, I'll have to forget about him.'

Takumi did yet another double take before he shook his head in defeat.

'Fair enough,' he said then, looking at Iketani's son, he asked, 'just do what she says, okay?'

'It's not like I have any choice, sir,' Hikaru replied sounding a strange mix between amused and resigned.

Takumi nodded to this and then he walked back to where Keisuke and Iketani were. By the time he reached his two friends, the race had already started and, staying true to her words, Haruko allowed Hikaru to take off quite a few seconds before she did.

'He's quite good,' Keisuke commented as they observed the boy driving around one of the sharp corners of the small track, passing just a couple of centimetres away from the tyre barrier, following a line which cut quite significantly the time he used going through it.

'He is,' Takumi agreed beginning to get worried about his daughter who now seemed to be in a lot more trouble than she had probably foreseen.

Iketani didn't say anything to this for he was just way too proud of his son to be able to form coherent sentences: to have such accomplished racers praising his son's driving was more than he could have hoped. The man watched Hikaru's style, recognising in his boy the talent his mother had been so famous for.

Meanwhile, Haruko was definitely in trouble because, despite the high speed in which she was pushing her kart, she still wasn't getting any closer to Hikaru and, after only two out of the fifteen laps this race would last, she was beginning to get rather concerned.

'Right,' she muttered to herself, 'you want war, you've got it.'

With that she became deathly serious and she started driving using all of her skills, even the one which allowed her to skid the rear of the kart in what looked quite a lot like a small drift, making her almost literally fly through the corners.

'Uh-oh,' Keisuke said as he saw the girl's kart go a lot faster all of a sudden.

Takumi's worry slowly turned into fear when he noticed that his daughter was now driving even more recklessly than she did during the official races from the karting championship. Just at that precise instant and as the girl passed by them, he realised that Haruko's kart was being pushed to its very limits.

'If she's not careful,' Iketani said, 'she'll end up blowing her kart's engine up.'

Takumi was going to reply to that when Keisuke, who now looked a bit less amused and a lot more alarmed, said:

'I think that's what she's got in mind.'

'No,' Takumi countered, 'I do think she's regretting having been so arrogant.'

'To be honest,' Iketani started, 'I didn't think Hikaru could actually win this race.'

'You should have a lot more faith in your son's abilities,' Keisuke admonished him.

'I know,' Iketani said looking down on to the track's tarmac.

Half way through the race Haruko finally managed to catch up with Hikaru and, as she started thinking up of a way to overtake him, she realised that she was a lot more tired than she had ever been before. That and the fact that she was starting to feel a weird ache on her lower back made her seriously think that, for the first time in her life, she was about to lose a race.

And this time she had nothing else to blame but herself.

With her determination fuelled up by this newfound anger, Haruko started pushing the car even more, discovering with some sort of evil pleasure that she had not reached the vehicle's limits yet and so, with the accelerator's pedal all the way down, she glued the front of her kart to the back of Hikaru's.

It was now or never, she thought as she followed the fifteen year old boy through a couple of turns and, just as she reached the short straight where the finish line was, she tried the first of her attacks.

'Damn,' Takumi whispered as he saw Hikaru closing the door to Haruko, forcing her to stay on his back.

'I told you,' Keisuke said, 'he's good.'

'That punk,' Iketani finally said with such a wide grin that Takumi and Keisuke couldn't help but to smile at him too, 'Mako's going to be so proud of him when I tell her about this race.'

During this brief exchange, Haruko decided that she had had enough of watching Hikaru's back so, in what was a truly suicidal move, she drove all out into a corner, taking the outside of it, pushing the poor fifteen year old out of the way in what was a rather wild but very much legal karting manoeuvre.

Then, with both karts preparing themselves to enter the following corner side by side, Haruko, using the slight advantage her lighter weight gave her, she pushed the kart just a few centimetres ahead of Hikaru's.

After that, she only needed what was coming next: a right hander where she would be facing the inside line of it so she could then veer right in front of Hikaru's kart.

'Yes!' she exclaimed happily as she managed to get ahead of the boy. She then allowed herself just under fraction of a millisecond to rejoice before she concentrated yet again on the race and a few minutes later, she crossed the finish line for the fifteenth time just four seconds ahead of Hikaru.

'That move was just crazy,' Iketani commented to Keisuke as the three men made their way to the two kids.

'What else did you expect?' Keisuke asked, 'she's a Fujiwara, of course she's crazy.'

Takumi was going to protest but then, he was joined by his daughter who looked a lot more tired than she was supposed to be.

'Are you okay?' he asked her instead.

'Yeah,' she replied, 'I don't feel too good though.'

'Why not?' Hikaru asked her sounding a tad on the sour side, 'you've won the race, haven't you?'

'Hey,' Takumi said crouching next to her so he could then look up to her, 'you're not upset because you've got to forget about Hikaru, are you?'

'No,' Haruko replied looking unusually serious, 'I really don't feel well.'

'What's wrong with you?' Takumi asked her now getting definitely worried.

'I don't know,' she replied, 'I want to go home.'

'Sure,' Takumi said exchanging a concerned glance with both Iketani and Keisuke, 'go and get changed and…'

'Daddy,' the girl interrupted him, 'I really want to go home now.'

'Okay, let's go then,' Takumi said getting back up and taking her small hand in his, 'Keisuke…'

'Yeah,' the slightly older man said, 'don't worry: we'll put the karts away ourselves. You better take her to the doctor.'

'I will,' Takumi said feeling quite grateful.

'Did I do anything wrong?' Hikaru asked him appearing, if that was possible, even more anxious than Takumi himself.

'No,' Haruko replied, 'I don't know what's wrong with me. I just don't feel too good.'

'Alright,' the fifteen year old replied, 'well, take care of yourself.'

'Yeah,' Haruko said, 'thanks for the race.'

'You're welcome,' Hikaru replied, 'I'm counting on a rematch soon though.'

Haruko just nodded at that then, she and her father started walking back to the AE86 so that they could go back to their home in Shibukawa there, and after parking the legendary car inside of their garage, Haruko rushed into the house with Takumi following as soon as he could.

'What are you two doing in here?' Natsuki asked to both her husband and her daughter seeing them going past the kitchen were she was busy preparing their lunch.

'Haruko's not feeling well,' Takumi explained, 'I wanted to take her to the doctor but she insisted that she wanted to get changed first.'

'What's wrong honey?' Natsuki asked Haruko, putting down the wooden spoon she was using to stir the soup and walking towards the little girl.

'I don't know,' the girl said and Natsuki noticed that she was indeed a bit paler than usual, 'it hurts here and a bit in here,' she added pointing at her lower back and at her tummy.

'I see,' Natsuki said nodding, 'does it feel like you want to go to the bathroom?'

'Kind of, but…'

'Alright,' Natsuki interrupted her then, glancing at a very confused looking Takumi, she added, 'she doesn't need a doctor. What she needs is her mother.'

'Mum…'

'Sweetheart,' Natsuki said using her nicest, kindest tone of voice, 'don't worry about anything. I'll explain everything you need to know as soon as we're up in your room.'

Both mother and daughter left Takumi in the kitchen so he could take care of their meal as they disappeared upstairs for what seemed like an indecent amount of time then, just as Takumi was trying to decide whether he should start eating on his own or what, Natsuki re-appeared into the kitchen.

'Okay,' Takumi said, 'what's wrong with her?'

'Nothing she'll be fine,' Natsuki replied looking absurdly pleased with herself.

'Natsuki!' Takumi exclaimed feeling rather annoyed for being so blatantly excluded from this whole thing.

'She's just had her first period,' Natsuki explained as she went to get some orange juice from the fridge, filling a glass with it, 'I'm going to give her this and then she'll go to bed and rest for a bit,' she added and, with this, she walked back out of the room leaving an utterly speechless Takumi behind.

'What the…' he finally managed to mutter and, as his brain started registering what his wife had just said, he realised two very worrying things: one, his daughter was no longer a little girl, she was now a very young woman and two, remembering the fact that his son had just got married made Takumi feel as ancient as an Egyptian mummy.

A week after that incident and as they were getting ready to go and watch yet another of Toshi's football matches, Takumi noticed for the first time that Haruko's behaviour had taken an almost one hundred and eighty degree change.

To begin with, she had become a lot more feminine, as if she had suddenly realised that she was, after all, a girl and because of this, she had insisted so that her mother would buy her a new dress to wear to the match then, not happy with that, she had asked to be allowed to put on a bit of transparent lip-gloss.

'No way,' Takumi said hearing that.

'Why not?' Natsuki asked him.

'I don't want her to start wearing make up at her age,' Takumi explained.

'Sorry baby,' Natsuki said to her daughter, 'you've heard your father.'

Haruko huffed angrily before stomping up the stairs, obviously not impressed by her father's archaic attitude towards make up and then she spent the whole trip to the small stadium pouting as she looked through the window at her side of the car.

'Wow!' Toshi exclaimed seeing his best friend as she climbed out of her mother's Nissan Micra, 'what's with the dress?' he asked her.

'Do you like it?' Haruko asked him smiling as she did so then, for some reason, Toshi stole a quick glance at Takumi before replying:

'Sure, of course.'

'Thanks,' Haruko said happily and, with that, she followed her mother towards the grandstand where Mariko was already sitting, waiting for everybody else to join her.

'What's happened to Haruko?' Itsuki asked his best friend as the two men locked their cars up.

'She's become a woman,' Takumi replied carelessly making Toshi's eyes widen like saucers, 'I mean…she's…' he then tried to correct himself but it was too late, Itsuki's twelve year old son had already come up with the right answer to his unspoken question and, before he could look as freaked out as he probably felt, Toshi just mumbled something incomprehensible before dashing towards the locker rooms where the rest of his team was slowly gathering.

'Great,' Itsuki said frowning worriedly, 'now he's not going to be able to focus on the match as he should.'

Takumi limited himself to look at his best friend apologetically.

'Forget it,' Itsuki said shrugging his shoulders, 'you've got bigger problems now.'

'Tell me about it,' Takumi said as the two men started walking upstairs at the grandstand so they could join their respective wives and Haruko, 'I think I've got a heartbreaker in the making.'

'If she's anything like her mother,' Itsuki started.

'Don't,' Takumi warned him, 'let's hope she won't be like that.'

'Yeah, let's hope so,' Itsuki agreed.

Thankfully for everybody, the match started soon after that and, during a bit under two hours, they were too busy cheering for Toshi to even have the time to worry about anything else.

'Go, go, come on son, go!' Itsuki shouted as he watched Toshi run while he kicked the ball in front of him on his way to the other team's goal.

'Be quiet,' Mariko told her husband, 'you'll make him nervous!'

Takumi and Natsuki exchanged a quick, amused look, both deciding not to point out to the other couple that there was no way the boy could hear them from where he was.

'He's going to score!' Haruko shouted happily.

All of them observed as Toshi skilfully avoided a couple of tackles as he kept running forward, keeping possession of the ball until the very last second when, seeing himself getting quickly surrounded by the members of the opposite team's defence, he kicked the ball really hard to make it go towards one of his team mates.

'Shoot!' Toshi shouted.

His team mate obeyed immediately but, unfortunately for him, the goalkeeper from the other team stopped the ball with both of his fists, sending it straight to where Toshi was.

Running for all that was worth a damn in the world, the twelve year old boy didn't even stop before kicking the ball with all the strength he had in his body and, this time, the goalkeeper didn't have enough time to throw himself towards it.

'GOOAAALLL!' all of the Shibukawa Middle School supporters shouted.

'I told you he'd score,' Haruko said as she watched her best friend while he was busy celebrating the goal with his team mates.

'He really is good,' Takumi commented.

'You think so?' Itsuki asked looking even more proud.

'Definitely,' Takumi replied, 'he's a lot better than I was when I played.'

'You played football?' Haruko suddenly asked to her father.

'I did for a while,' Takumi explained, 'that's how I met your mother, remember?'

'That's right, I remember now,' she replied then, she looked again at Toshi and with a dreamy tone of voice, she said, 'football is so cool.'

Watching her a bit more closely Takumi saw something very worrying in his daughter's expression, something that Takumi had only seen once before, a long time ago, in his son's eyes when the then five and a half year old Akito saw Ryoko for the first time in his life.

'Oh no,' he muttered to himself with dismay as he suddenly understood the way poor Keisuke must have felt when he realised that his little girl had just fallen in love with the son of one of his best friends.

That same night, at the car park at the base of Mt Akagi, the Golden Arrows were gathering for the first time after Akito and Ryoko's wedding for what it would just be a quiet training session, also because being the middle of July, the evening was way too warm and humid to spend more than a few minutes racing at full speed.

'Kyosuke-san,' Shinji asked to the Golden Arrows' leader, 'Akito and Ryoko are supposed to come back one of these days, aren't they?'

'Yep,' Kyosuke replied, 'they're coming back on Monday.'

Shinji was going to say something else when they saw Seisuke walking towards them with a worried frown on his handsome face.

'What's up?' Kyosuke asked his younger brother.

'I've been trying to contact Izawa and Masato,' Seisuke replied, 'none of their phones are switched on and they're not answering to my radio calls.'

'That's weird,' Kyosuke said to him then, speaking to the whole team, he shouted, 'hey! Has any of you seen Izawa or Masato?'

There were a few 'no' and some of the Golden Arrows shook their heads.

'That's Masato!' Kizuna suddenly exclaimed pointing at the approaching red Toyota Vera the guy from Isesaki owned then, as they all looked a bit more closely, they saw that the poor car was smashed up all along the driver's side.

'What the hell?' Seisuke said as he and Kyosuke rushed towards the Toyota.

'What happened?' the Golden Arrows' leader asked to Masato as soon as he was out of the car, wincing when he saw that the guy had quite a deep gash on the right side of his forehead which was bleeding quite profusely.

'Those bastards pushed me and Izawa out of the road,' Masato replied with a very shaky voice.

_To be continued…_


	34. Chapter Thirty Three

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Thirty Three_

Kyosuke, instead of asking Masato to explain himself, after having noticed that Izawa wasn't there with him and knowing that the two friends usually came to their gatherings together, the Golden Arrows' leader said:

'Masato, where's Izawa?'

'He...he went down the cliff,' Masato stuttered still sounding very shaken up.

'He WHAT?' Junya shouted while Seisuke, after exchanging a very quick glance with his older brother, started running towards his car.

'Let's go,' Kyosuke ordered to everyone else, including his own fiancée.

Not even five minutes later and following Masato's badly battered Vera, they got to one of the infamous sharp corners from Mt Akagi's steep downhill and there, everyone saw the unmistakable sign of a recently wrecked guardrail.

'Shit,' Seisuke muttered as he climbed out of his white RZ-1, carrying his trusty first aid kid with him then, not even bothering with waiting for his team mates to find a spot out of the road to leave their cars parked, he and his older brother rushed towards the edge of the road where the surrounding darkness prevented them from seeing anything else but two specks of light coming from somewhere further down.

'That's him,' Masato's shaky voice said, 'that's Izawa.'

'Holy crap,' Kizuna gasped, 'what are we going to do?' she asked to Kyosuke.

Ignoring her question, the twenty three year old man made his way back to his car, opened its trunk and got a length of rope out of it then, climbing back into the RZ-1, he turned its engine on manoeuvring it with its front facing the edge of the cliff.

Once there, Kyosuke got out of his car and went to crouch next to its front using the hook that was under the bumper to tie up one of the ends of the rope then, doing a very solid looking knot to it, he pulled the rope with all his strength to test if it could cope with his weight.

'Right,' he said once he was happy enough with that, 'I'm going down.'

'I'm coming with you,' Seisuke added.

'No,' Kyosuke said, 'you're staying here because you need to take care of Masato's wound.'

'Aniki, Izawa's probably injured too,' Seisuke argued.

'I know,' Kyosuke said, 'which is why you need to stay here: if you hurt yourself while you get down there, who's going to take care of him?'

Seisuke looked at his older brother and, knowing that he was perfectly right, he nodded.

'Fine, I'll stay here,' he said.

Before anyone else, namely Kizuna, could volunteer themselves to go with their leader, Kyosuke started his descent down the cliff using the rope, being careful to avoid any bushes or trees which he might have found along the way and feeling grateful that some of the guys had had the brilliant idea of using hand held electric torches so he didn't have to do that in complete darkness.

'What happened?' Junya asked to Masato as Seisuke was busy cleaning up his wound which, thankfully enough, wasn't anywhere as deep as it had first appeared.

'We were at our local café,' Masato started, 'you know, where Izawa and I always meet up before coming here…ouch…'

'Stay still,' Seisuke ordered him, glaring at Junya for distracting Masato.

'Sorry,' Junya said.

'Anyway,' Masato continued, trying to move as little as possible, 'we were about to get back into our cars when we've seen a pair of twin brothers walking towards us. One of them, pointing at our stickers, has asked me if we were members of the Golden Arrows for real…'

'Are there fake Golden Arrows?' Shinji asked sounding quite incredulous.

'Of course not, idiot,' Junya replied, 'so, what happened after that?' he asked to Masato.

'I've told him that we were the real thing,' Masato replied, 'then, they've told us that they wanted to see if we were as good as everyone says.'

'You didn't race them, did you?' Seisuke asked him.

'Of course not,' Masato replied, 'you know we wouldn't do that without your brother's permission.'

'Right,' Seisuke said then, fixing some gauze over the gash with surgical tape, he added, 'that should do for now. We should take you and Izawa to the hospital to have you both checked.'

'Speaking of whom,' Kei said talking to Kizuna, 'are you sure he doesn't need a hand?'

'I don't think so,' Kizuna replied looking down the cliff, seeing that Kyosuke was already helping Izawa out of his crashed car, 'it seems like Izawa's conscious,' she added sounding rather relieved.

'Are you sure?' Masato asked rushing to where she was.

'You can see it for yourself,' Kizuna replied pointing at the two figures which were now climbing up.

A few instants later, they all had confirmation of this fact when they saw a very bruised and shaken looking but perfectly awake Izawa being hoisted up by a couple of his team mates quickly followed by Kyosuke.

'We'll need to get one of our trucks,' he said as he brushed off a few leaves and bits of dirt which could be seen scattered all over his trousers, 'I'm sorry to say this Izawa,' he added, 'but I think that getting your car back to how it used to be is going to be pretty difficult.'

'Not to mention expensive, right?' Izawa asked him looking rather disconsolate.

'Yeah, I'm afraid so too,' Kyosuke replied putting his hand onto his team mate's right shoulder, 'I'm really sorry.'

'Those fucking bastards!' Izawa exclaimed making a visible effort not to burst into tears, 'if we ever catch them…'

'What happened?' Kyosuke asked looking from Izawa to Masato.

'I was just explaining that,' Masato replied, 'Izawa and I got challenged by two guys but, since we couldn't accept it without your approval, we turned them down.'

'That's right,' Izawa added while Seisuke checked that besides a few cuts and bruises, the younger man seemed to be okay.

'Then,' Masato continued, 'we climbed into our cars and we drove here like we always do.'

'I realised we were being followed when we got out of the motorway,' Izawa said, 'and I told Masato using the car's radio.'

'Yeah,' Masato said suddenly looking rather guilty, 'and I've told him to just ignore them.'

'Did you see which cars they were driving?' Kizuna asked all of a sudden.

'That's the worst bit,' Izawa replied with a scowl, 'they were two of those old Honda DC5s with registration plates from Gunma.'

Everyone felt even sorrier for the poor guy for the all knew that Izawa had become a huge fan of the Honda Integra Type-R, being the proud owner of one of those cars himself, the very same one which was now smashed up against a tree, somewhere down a cliff.

'What happened then?' Seisuke asked.

'We're not too sure,' Masato replied, 'we had just started driving up to the summit when, all of a sudden, we've seen the two Integra chasing after us. Then one of them has somehow managed to overtake us because…'

'…you were unprepared,' Kyosuke finished for him mercilessly.

'Yeah sorry,' Masato said looking at his team leader apologetically before continuing, 'then, the one which we had behind has started pushing us, forcing us to speed up.'

'That's right,' Izawa replied, 'that's the bastard who has made me lose control of my car.'

'That's when I crashed against the wall,' Masato added, 'although I think they've made me do that on purpose so that I was forced to stop.'

'What do you mean?' Kizuna asked.

'They wanted me to give you guys a message,' Masato said.

'The fucking bastards!' Izawa exclaimed, 'I had just gone down the cliff! I could have died for pity's sake!'

'What did they say?' Kyosuke asked while looking at Izawa understandingly.

'They said that they're after you two,' Masato replied pointing at the two Takahashi brothers.

'WHAT?' Seisuke exclaimed.

'They said they'll race against you no matter what,' Masato said.

'Aniki…'

'Okay,' Kyosuke said, 'I think I've heard enough and I also think it's due time you two get to the hospital.'

'Aniki, what are we…'

'Seisuke,' Kyosuke interrupted him, 'we're going to take them to our clinic in Takasaki. After that, I want all of you to head…'

'What the…' one of the guys said making everyone turn to see where he was looking at. There, they all saw the jade green V-86 belonging to Kojiro driving uphill.

'What is he doing in here?' Seisuke asked to his brother.

'No idea,' Kyosuke replied.

They all watched the Toyota driving past them only to park right in front of Kizuna's Nissan then, after turning his car's engine off, they saw as the eighteen year old climbed out of it, making his way down to the corner where the whole of the Golden Arrows were.

'What are you all doing in here?' a puzzled looking Kojiro asked glancing at Kyosuke.

'We could ask you the very same thing,' Seisuke asked him.

'Er…'

'Why don't you start telling us what you're doing in here?' Kyosuke suggested.

'Well, the thing is,' Kojiro replied using an atypically shy tone of voice, 'I just wanted to see if…well…'

'Kojiro, what is it?' Kizuna asked him sounding quite worried.

'Oh, I…I just wanted to ask you if I could become a member of your team,' the eighteen year old said speaking as quickly a he could.

'What?' Seisuke asked him sounding as surprised as everyone else was.

'You think it's a bad idea, don't you?' Kojiro said suddenly looking very insecure, 'I know I'm not a…'

'No, no,' Kizuna started, 'it's not that it's a bad idea.'

'It's the timing which is bad,' Kyosuke added.

'I thought so,' Kojiro said now appearing rather disappointed, 'Akito did say it wasn't going to be easy.'

'He did?' Seisuke asked.

'Yeah, well,' Kojiro replied, 'I do have to beat your older brother, don't I?'

'Where did you get that from?' Kyosuke asked him sounding almost amused by all of this.

'Akito told me,' Kojiro replied, his disappointment turning quickly into confusion as he saw that the two Takahashi brothers were laughing out loud then, seeing his expression, Seisuke hurried to say:

'We're not laughing at you.'

'We're not,' Kyosuke confirmed, 'it's just that the only member who has had to beat me to become a Golden Arrow it's Akito.'

'Really?' Kojiro asked.

'Yes, it's our secret,' Kyosuke replied glancing at the whole team, 'they all know that I had to tell Akito that because it was the only way I could get him to race me seriously.'

'Ah…I see…'

'In any case,' Seisuke said, 'if all you want is to become one of us, I don't know what the others think about this but, as far as I'm concerned, you're more than welcome to join us.'

'REALLY?' Kojiro repeated, only that this time he was shouting.

'Yes, why not?' Kyosuke said then, speaking to the rest of the guys, he added, 'is anyone against it?'

Seeing that no one opposed Kojiro's entry into the team, Kyosuke walked towards his car, opened the driver's side door and took a couple of the rectangular stickers he always kept in it then, walking back to where Kojiro was and offering them to the eighteen year old, he said:

'Welcome to the team, again.'

'What about Akito?' Kojiro asked without taking the stickers from him, 'shouldn't we wait until he's back?'

'Nah,' Seisuke said shaking his head.

'You're already his team mate, aren't you?' Kizuna added.

'Yeah, that's right,' Kojiro admitted.

'Then, I don't think he's going to have problems with you being in his other racing team,' Kizuna said.

'Now,' Kyosuke then said, 'I'm sorry that we can't keep the tradition of celebrating the new addition to the team as we should but, as you can see, we've had a bit of a situation in here,' he added pointing at the smashed up red Vera.

'What happened to it?' Kojiro asked.

'Izawa and I had a bit of a close encounter with a couple of Integra,' Masato replied sounding pretty fed up of having to explain the same thing for the third time that evening.

'I see,' Kojiro said, 'where's your car?' he then asked looking at Izawa.

'Down the cliff,' the older guy replied.

'Ouch,' Kojiro said with a concerned frown, 'and you didn't get hurt?' he asked seeing that the older guy looked almost unharmed.

'Not very much,' Izawa replied, 'I was lucky my seatbelt and the airbags worked perfectly.'

'Aniki,' Seisuke said, 'what are we going to do about that?'

'Seisuke,' Kyosuke said, 'like I was saying earlier, we're not going to be racing anyone who uses such dirty methods so, we'll take Izawa and Masato to the hospital, we'll cancel this training session and, tomorrow morning, we'll get one of our trucks to recover Izawa's car from down there.'

'But…'

'That's all we're going to do,' Kyosuke insisted, 'and if anyone sees any of the two Honda Izawa and Masato have described to us, they're to report it to me immediately, is that understood?'

'Yes,' Seisuke replied on behalf of everybody else.

'Good,' Kyosuke said.

'Is there anything I can do?' Kojiro asked still looking rather worried.

'Not really,' Kyosuke replied, 'Kojiro, don't worry about any of this, okay? We'll be meeting up again this Saturday.'

'Count me in,' Kojiro said firmly.

'Okay,' Kyosuke said smiling at him, 'now, you can put these on whenever you want,' he added finally giving the two Golden Arrows stickers to Kojiro.

'I'm going to do it right now!' the eighteen year old exclaimed happily as he started running towards his jade green V-86.

'Right,' Kyosuke said with a soft chuckle.

Finally and after waiting for a few more minutes until Kojiro had finished sticking the two decals on both sides of his Toyota, allowing him an extra second so he could admire the results, they all started driving down to the base, with Masato forced to leave his Vera parked safely away from the traffic for Seisuke had decided that, until they did a full check up at a hospital, his team mate was not fit to drive.

For this reason, Masato was now sitting on the passenger seat of Kyosuke's RZ-1 while Izawa was in that of Seisuke's with Kizuna's Nissan following the two brothers all the way to Takasaki were they would go to one of the three hospitals the Takahashi Arakawa Medical Group owned.

Meanwhile, Kojiro started driving towards Tashiro, the small and quiet town near the border with the Nagano prefecture where he and his grandfather lived, choosing the twisted and ancient road instead of taking the faster motorway, mainly because he really fancied a long drive.

The eighteen year old was so happy that he'd been admitted into the Golden Arrows so easily, and so worried about what was happening to them now, that he didn't even pay attention to the two identical cars which were parked near a gas station he bypassed on his way home. Because of this, it took him by complete surprise when, right after having left the village of Tsumagoi behind, he saw a couple of headlights on his rear view mirror.

'What is…'

He didn't even have the time to finish the sentence when he realised that, whoever it was, definitely didn't have friendly intentions so, steeling himself for the fight, Kojiro pressed the V-86's accelerator just enough to ensure that he went just a bit faster than the car he had behind.

Only that it wasn't just a car: they were two, and they were most certainly challenging him to a race.

'It's them,' Kojiro muttered to himself suddenly remembering what he had heard from the Golden Arrow getting a lot more worried.

He then made his Toyota pick up even more speed hoping that he could put as much distance between his brand new car and the other two. Kojiro was actually aiming to find somewhere to top so he could hide from them, buying himself the time he needed to warn Kyosuke.

Unfortunately, neither of the two Hondas appeared to have any intentions of giving him any such chance and, because of that, Kojiro saw himself forced to keep driving faster and faster until, right after passing by the village of Ozasa, a few kilometres away from Tashiro, the eighteen year old realised that he was going almost as fast as he'd gone while racing against Akito.

Then it happened: right as he was crossing the bridge which led to the road where he and his grandfather had their home, Kojiro's V-86 skidded over some sand which probably came from a dried up puddle and only his highly honed driving skills prevented him from crashing against one of the bridge's barriers.

'Fuck,' he whispered seeing that the front of the V-86 was just a hair away from the short wall.

Feeling pretty angry, the eighteen year old climbed out of his car as he saw the two Hondas stop just a few metres ahead of him and, for the first time, he saw that they were two heavily tuned black Honda Integra Type-Rs.

As if all of this hadn't already freaked the poor Kojiro out, seeing two identical looking men in their mid-twenties climbing out of the cars definitely did the trick.

'What do you want?' Kojiro asked them, using an unusually dry tone of voice.

'Tonight must be our lucky night,' one of the guys said with a smirk on his face.

'You're right,' the other one agreed, 'we've been trying to run into one of the Golden Arrows for weeks.'

'…and, in one night, we've found three of you,' the first one finished.

'What do you want from us?' the eighteen year old asked, feeling way too concerned to be proud of being able to call himself a Golden Arrow.

'Our name is Adachi Kano and Sano and we're from Tsumagoi,' one of the guys said.

'And we're going to defeat the Takahashi brothers even if it's the last thing we do,' the other added.

_To be continued…_


	35. Chapter Thirty Four

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Thirty Four_

The minute he got home, instead of rushing into the house to try and find his grandfather so he could tell him about having made a member of the Golden Arrows, Kojiro stayed in the garage where, among other vehicles, his grandfather kept his jade green S15 and an AE86 quite similar to the one Akito's father owned.

Pulling his mobile phone out of one of the front pockets of his trousers, Kojiro dialled Kyosuke's phone number, wondering if the older guy would still be at the hospital with Masato and Izawa.

'Hello?' Kyosuke replied.

'Hi,' Kojiro said, 'am I bothering you?'

'Of course not,' Kyosuke replied, 'Seisuke and I are just waiting for the doctors to finish checking Masato and Izawa up.'

'Right,' Kojiro said, 'listen, I've just met with the drivers of the two DC5s.'

'You've what?' Kyosuke exclaimed, 'did they do anything to you?'

'Well,' Kojiro said, trying his best to laugh it off, 'they almost sent me and my new car for a swim.'

'Oh crap,' Kyosuke said, 'you're alright though, aren't you?'

'Yes,' Kojiro replied, 'however, those two told me that they are called Adachi Kano and Sano, they are from Tsumagoi. They've also given me their details so you can contact them to accept their challenge.'

Things went so quiet at the other end that, for a few instants, Kojiro thought that Kyosuke had hanged up on him.

'Kyosuke?' he asked, just in case.

'I'm here,' Kyosuke assured him.

'What are you…' Kojiro started.

'Like I said earlier,' Kyosuke interrupted him, 'don't worry about anything. Just send me their number and Seisuke and I will take care of those two.'

'Are you going to race them?' Kojiro asked him.

'I don't know yet,' Kyosuke replied, 'but don't worry, okay?' he insisted.

After reassuring him that he wasn't going to worry, mainly because Kojiro knew that Kyosuke was more than capable of taking care of this kind of things, the eighteen year old pressed the button to finish the call, spending a few more instants sending Kyosuke a short email with the Adachi's phone number before turning round towards the garage's door where he saw his grandfather there, leaning against the doorframe.

'What's going on?' Keiichi asked.

'Grandpa,' Kojiro said smiling happily pointing at the stickers his V-86 now had, 'I've just been made a member of the Golden Arrows.'

'Have you really?' Keiichi asked and, for some strange reason, the old man didn't actually look too impressed by any of this.

'Yes,' Kojiro replied hesitantly, 'Kyosuke admitted me into the team fairly easily and…'

'I've heard of those Adachi kids you were talking about,' Keiichi said, still not sounding very happy, 'they're a nasty piece of work.'

'I know that but…'

'Listen, Kojiro,' Keiichi said putting a hand on his grandson's shoulder, 'I really don't want you to be involved in any kind of battle.'

'What?' Kojiro asked looking at his grandfather with a consternated frown, 'are you telling me that you don't want me to do any street racing?' he added.

'If that's going to get you in trouble, no, I don't.'

'Grandpa!' Kojiro exclaimed, 'what did you get me the V-86 for then?'

'I got it so you could have fun practicing your driving with it,' Keiichi replied, 'not so you could get involved with people like the Adachi kids who I know are trying to replace the Takahashi brothers and the Golden Arrows as the fastest racers in Gunma.'

'Grandpa, Akito is the fastest racer in Gunma,' Kojiro said, 'even Kyosuke and Seisuke say so.'

'That's probably right,' Keiichi conceded, 'however, the Golden Arrows' founders were Kyosuke and Seisuke.'

'Okay, that's right too but…'

'Kojiro,' Keiichi interrupted him again, 'do you remember what happened to me back in my first years of professional racing?'

'Er…'

'I got my FIA license suspended because they found out about my illegal street racing activities,' Keiichi explained, 'I just don't want the same thing to happen to you, okay?'

Kojiro looked at his grandfather for a short while before nodding.

'Alright,' he said, 'I'll try to stay out of trouble but, Grandpa, you've got to please allow me handle this my way, okay?'

It was then Keiichi's turn to stare at his grandson for a bit before nodding too.

'I've always trusted your good judgement,' the old man said, 'you've always been a lot more mature than your actual age so, I'll trust you with this too.'

'Thank you,' Kojiro said smiling at his grandfather.

'By the way,' Keiichi said, 'Isabelle's left a message in the answering machine. It's in French so I couldn't understand a word of what she was saying…'

The old man didn't even finish the sentence for the eighteen year old started running into the house making Keiichi shake his head while he thought that, whereas for everything else Kojiro was indeed a very mature person, when it came to Isabelle, he was nothing but a teenager.

Smiling at that, Keiichi followed his grandson out of the garage and into the house, not before taking a look at his S15 and his AE86, wishing he still was an adolescent so he could drive around like a madman, just as he used to do.

Meanwhile, back in Takasaki and after having left their team mates at the hospital where, just in case, they would stay overnight, Kyosuke and Seisuke stood next to their RZ-1s in the clinic's car park discussing what to do about the Adachi guys or, rather, with Seisuke trying to convince his older brother to get in touch with those bastards the sooner the better.

'It's not so easy…'

'Aniki!' Seisuke exclaimed, 'they've destroyed Izawa's car, they made Masato crash his against a wall and now they've almost made Kojiro crash too.'

'I know,' Kyosuke protested, 'how do you think I feel about that?' he asked.

'Aniki…'

'Look,' Kyosuke interrupted him, 'if we hadn't given Kojiro our stickers, he wouldn't even have got involved in all of this and I cannot even think of what would have happened if Izawa or Masato had got badly hurt.'

'Aniki,' Seisuke said, 'all I'm saying is that we should give them a call, see what they want.'

'Seisuke, it's fairly clear what they want,' Kyosuke pointed out.

'Alright,' Seisuke said beginning to lose his patience, 'let's just call them, okay?'

'Seisuke…'

'Please,' Seisuke insisted then, shaking his head and obviously giving up, Kyosuke took his phone out of the pocket of his jacket and searched for the number Kojiro had sent him. Then, without exchanging a further word with his younger brother, he dialled the number then he put the phone to his ear.

'Hello?' someone replied.

'This is Takahashi Kyosuke,' the twenty three year old said.

'Oh-ho!' the other guy exclaimed with fake happiness, 'at long last! I see that that shortass who drives the V-86 has passed on the message…'

'That 'shortass',' Kyosuke said, keeping an admirably calm tone of voice, 'is one of the best racers in the GP2 grid.'

'Hang on,' the guy said, 'that shortass we've spoken to wasn't Fujiwara,' the guy asked sounding really angry all of a sudden.

'What?' Kyosuke asked, 'of course that wasn't him, the guy you spoke to is Tsuchiya Kojiro.'

'What?' the guy exclaimed, 'are you telling me that you've got two GP2 racers in your team?'

'Yes, now we do.'

'Oh this makes it all even better,' the guy sneered.

'What do you mean?' Kyosuke asked.

'We're trying to found our own team but it seems like the best racers from Gunma have already been taken by your team,' the guy explained.

'That's right,' Kyosuke replied proudly.

'Well,' the guy said sounding even happier now, 'that's the deal: my brother and I race against you two and when we beat you, you will have to ask Fujiwara and Tsuchiya to join us.'

'What?' Kyosuke exclaimed, 'you're nuts!'

'That's the deal, take it or leave it,' the guy insisted.

'What makes you think I can ask them to join your team?' Kyosuke asked and, at this point, Seisuke opened his eyes as wide as they could go he then started making some frantic gestures as he tried to get his older brother's attention.

'I'm sure you'll find a way,' the guy said, 'in any case, that's not my problem. I've heard that you rarely race at your home course so, I take we'll be racing at ours.'

'Where is that?' Kyosuke asked, noticing that he was getting quite pissed off at the guy's arrogance.

'Mt Usui,' the guy replied.

'What?' Kyosuke said, 'that's the Nagano Alliance's home course.'

'It won't be for much longer if we beat you there,' he countered.

'Fine,' Kyosuke said and, before he had too much time to think about it, he added, 'let's see...we're free the first Saturday of August so we could meet up then at around nine pm.'

'Great,' the guy said, 'we'll be there.'

Kyosuke finished the call staring at his phone for a few seconds before he could bring himself to look at his younger brother because, for some reason, he felt rather mortified at the fact that he had just agreed to a deal which he should have pondered a lot more carefully.

'What was that with Akito and Kojiro?' Seisuke asked, making Kyosuke look at him.

'They said that if we lose the race, we'll have to convince them to join the Adachi's team,' Kyosuke replied.

'Really?' Seisuke asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise, 'and you accepted that?'

'Well, I never told him we were going to.'

'I'm so proud of you,' Seisuke said sounding serious.

'Seisuke, I never said we were going to race. I thought we could...'

'Aniki,' Seisuke said, dismissing what his older brother was trying to say, 'for once in your life, you've been spontaneous.'

'What? I can be spontaneous.'

'You are most certainly not,' Seisuke contradicted him, 'Aniki, no offence or anything, but when it comes to taking things into consideration, you're almost as bad as Dad: you two never ever do anything without thinking things through forever.'

'Seisuke I…'

'Honestly,' he interrupted his older brother, 'I'm really happy you've finally shown to me that you too can make decisions based on how you feel.'

'Hey,' Kyosuke protested, 'I can make decisions like that: take Kizuna, for instance.'

'Right,' Seisuke cut him off, 'don't even bring Kizuna into this for it'll just help me rest my case.'

'Whatever makes you sleep better at night,' Kyosuke said feeling rather annoyed for he realised that his younger brother was right.

'Aniki, you want to race them and you know it,' Seisuke insisted.

Kyosuke stared at his brother for a while before, letting out a frustrated sigh and shaking his head in defeat, he finally surrendered and said:

'Alright, we'll have to work on your car if you really want us to race those two.'

'We?' Seisuke asked.

'Of course,' Kyosuke replied, 'do you think I'll let you do all the work on your RZ-1 by yourself?'

'Well…to be honest, I was kind of counting on your help…'

'You better,' Kyosuke said, 'because, no offence or anything, but Akito's right: your car does look like it desperately needs a good overhaul.'

Four days after that, on a beautiful Monday morning, Akito and Ryoko got out of the taxi which had brought them from Narita back to their house in Tokyo and, after paying the driver, Akito took the two heaviest suitcases all the way up the stairs leaving Ryoko in charge of opening the door.

'Wait here,' Akito said to her as he brought all their travel bags inside the house, leaving them on the huge, marble-floored hall then, walking back out to the luxurious front porch, he took his wife into his arms.

'What are you doing?' Ryoko asked sounding half amused half confused.

'Hey,' Akito replied, 'this is the first time we enter our house after getting married, I want to do it properly.'

'Alright,' Ryoko said as she snuggled herself against Akito's left shoulder, keeping her arms firmly around his neck.

Ignoring the bags, he kicked the heavy front door closed and walked all the long way to their living room, observing how extremely beautiful the house now looked, after having been repainted and with all the floors cleaned and the furniture polished. They really had a very nice house.

Putting Ryoko down onto the cream coloured couch, Akito smiled and said:

'Welcome home, Mrs Fujiwara.'

'Oh gosh,' Ryoko complained, 'you just made me feel like I'm forty or something!'

'Sorry,' Akito said biting his lower lip guiltily then, smiling again, he said, 'I wish I didn't have to go to the training session.'

'Why?' Ryoko asked him frowning concernedly.

'Oh, can't you guess?' Akito asked her as he crouched next to her, taking her hand in his.

'Akito!' Ryoko protested but laughing softly as she did so, 'don't tell me you want to do it again?'

'Er…no?'

Ryoko shook her head but then, seeing his puppy-like eyes, she said:

'I'm not feeling all that great right now, it's probably the jetlag and the over fourteen hours we've spent travelling but, after I get some sleep and I take a shower…we'll see, okay?'

'Alright,' Akito said smiling again.

'That said,' Ryoko continued, 'are you sure you're alright to go to practice? Aren't you tired too?'

'Nope,' Akito replied, 'I slept like a baby in the plane, didn't I?'

'That's right,' Ryoko said, 'I forgot you can sleep almost anywhere…'

'I'm lucky,' Akito said, 'in more than one way. Now, unfortunately, I really need to go.'

'Okay, be careful and say hi from me to everyone, alright?'

'I will,' Akito replied, 'you rest and take it easy for today.'

'I do have to unpack our bags,' Ryoko pointed out.

'Do that only if you feel like it,' Akito replied, 'if not, I'll do it when I get back.'

Ryoko just nodded at that before Akito gave her a peck on her lips. He then got back up as Ryoko took the remote of their new TV so she could try to catch on the national news.

'I love you,' Akito said as he stepped out of the room.

'Me too,' Ryoko replied.

An hour later, Akito parked his panda coloured V-86 at the Takahashi Motorsports Centre feeling very happy that he was back home in Japan although the thought that, only three days later, he had to get back into a plane to go to Singapore for the following round of the GP2 season almost made him feel like crying.

Walking towards the main building, he saw his father walking out of it, carrying a can of coffee in his hand.

'Hey Dad,' Akito said.

'Hey son,' Takumi said, 'I didn't think you'd be coming here today.'

'Why not?' Akito asked, 'we've got the next race this weekend, haven't we?'

'Yes but…'

'Dad,' Akito said, 'I've got plenty of time to be with Ryoko.'

'I wasn't referring to that,' Takumi said, 'but now that you mention it, spend with her as much time as you can for you never know.'

'Dad,' Akito repeated, getting very serious, 'I know what you're trying to say but, the way things have gone with me and Ryoko, to be honest, I think that it's she who should worry the most.'

Takumi looked at his son and, in spite of the seriousness of the conversation; he couldn't help but to smile at Akito.

'That's probably right,' Takumi agreed, 'just in case, try to take better care of yourself too, okay?'

'I can't make any promises,' Akito said smiling cheekily then, sobering up, he added, 'don't worry Dad, I'm a married man now so I have to be a lot more careful about what I do: no more crazy stuff from me from now on.'

Takumi stared at Akito with an incredulous expression on his face but, for the sake of not arguing with his son, he just nodded and said:

'Let's go, I think most of the team is already there.'

'Alright,' Akito said.

'Hey!' Akito heard Kizuna exclaim as he and his father walked into the small building where the Takawara Racing Team's had their headquarters.

'Akito, long time no see!' Kenta said.

'How was Barcelona?' Fumihiro asked him.

'It was great,' Akito replied, 'there's a mountain road there called L'Arrabassada or something like that which is truly amazing. I wanted to try going downhill but Ryoko didn't want me to do that with our rented car…'

'Yeah, it's never a good idea going against the wife's wishes, is it?' Seisuke asked as he and his older brother walked into the garage too.

'Hey guys!' Akito exclaimed hurrying towards his best friends to exchange a quick one armed hug with both of them.

'Hey,' Kyosuke said, 'careful there or we'll think you've missed us.'

'I've missed you all, to be honest,' Akito said, 'both Ryoko and I had a great time in Barcelona but we couldn't wait to get back to Japan.'

'You sound as bad as your grandfather,' Takumi muttered.

'So,' Akito said ignoring his old man, 'did anything exciting happen while we were gone?'

'How long have you got?' Seisuke asked him with a smirk on his face.

_To be continued…_


	36. Chapter Thirty Five

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Thirty Five_

Three days after his and Ryoko's return and as he climbed into the taxi which would take him back to Narita, where he would meet with the rest of the team to go to Singapore, Akito decided that one could definitely not leave home for so long because there had been way too many things happening while he was gone.

To begin with, he thought as the taxi started making its way to the airport, he'd been shocked seeing the unexpected personality change in his little sister and he'd felt even more astounded when, after he'd been informed by his parents about the fact that Haruko no longer was a little girl, he'd also found out that she was now quite clearly interested in Toshi and, apparently, the boy reciprocated those feelings.

If the thought of having his baby sister being so feminine all of a sudden and wanting to have a boyfriend made Akito feel ancient, he didn't want to think about how his father felt about all of this…

Then it had been that thing with the DC5s, there we go again, Akito had thought with a smirk. It was just what both his father and grandfather always said: the better you are, the more people will want to beat you.

Even though Akito was fairly confident with his best friends driving skills, no one wanted to relax too much so the two brothers had been working on their cars, especially Seisuke's and Akito knew that they had gone almost every night to Usui so they could get some practice on the course.

For some strange reason, neither Kyosuke nor Seisuke had wanted to disclose the full terms of the challenge itself but that didn't worry him too much, in any case, he knew that would find out soon enough.

If none of that had managed to do so already, the thing which had rendered Akito speechless finding out about the Golden Arrows' newest acquisition: he still couldn't believe that his GP2 team mate would also be a member of his beloved street racing team.

To be perfectly honest with himself, he was rather pleased to have Kojiro in the team. Now, besides having the Takahashi brothers with their two RZ-1s, Akito could now pair up with Kojiro with their V-86s. That said, there was something which puzzled him and that was the fact that no one had given him a straight answer when he had asked them about Kyosuke and Kojiro's battle.

What was even weirder, no one seemed to have recorded anything from the race and that definitely made him think that something was very fishy in this whole story.

'Oh well,' Akito muttered to himself and that made the taxi driver throw an odd look at him, making him realise that he had he really had to learn not to speak to himself in public.

About half an hour later, he finally stepped out of the taxi and went into the airport where he saw almost immediately the white, yellow and black jackets from the Takawara Racing Team.

'Hey guys,' he said to everyone, including Kenta who was yawning widely.

'Where's my daughter?' Keisuke asked Akito.

'She's still down with that weird flu she's caught,' Akito explained.

'Not even a month and she's already sick,' Keisuke said so menacingly that it made Akito take one step backwards, just in case.

'Uncle Keisuke,' Kyosuke said, 'it's probably the change of weather. It's been really hot and humid recently.'

Keisuke looked at his older nephew then glanced at Akito and said:

'Oh well, you better take care of her, like you promised.'

'Yes, of course,' Akito hurried to reply looking so frightened that everyone started laughing, well, not everyone because Takumi, seeing this scene, was reminded of a certain, unresolved matter he had back home with his own daughter and Itsuki's twelve year old son.

'Let's go,' Fumihiro said trying to get the team moving.

After a few hours or so of travelling, the Takawara Racing Team checked themselves into the hotel they had pre-booked and, after that, they all decided to go to bed for they had a very busy weekend ahead and they needed all the rest they could get.

The next day and as everyone was busy doing something, Akito walked towards his GP2 car observing that someone had already replaced Hiroki's name with his.

'It's nice having you back in the team,' Kyosuke commented as he worked on it.

'Yeah, it's good to be back too,' Akito replied.

'Hiroki's done a good job though,' Kizuna said while Kojiro nodded his agreement.

'Yes, he has,' Akito agreed too, 'he was brilliant in Macao.'

'You really think so?' they all heard Hiroki ask.

'Yeah,' Akito replied, making his way towards him, 'my father's told me that you've taken your job as test driver very seriously.'

Hiroki looked at him, almost as if he were considering whether his team mate was taking the mickey out of him then, obviously deciding that Akito was just being honest, he said:

'I'm trying to make amendments.'

'That's a good thing to hear,' Akito said putting his hand on Hiroki's left shoulder, 'in any case, I'm glad to have you working with us again: at least we now know you're safe.'

'Yeah,' Hiroki replied with a small smile, 'don't take it too easy though: if you get yourself out of action again, I'm the one who'll be replacing you.'

Akito laughed at that and, removing his hand from Hiroki's shoulder, he shook his head as he thought that he and Hiroki still had a very long road ahead before they could see each other as a friend.

Very early in the morning of the race day and after every single one of Akito's attempts at trying to find out what had really allowed for Kojiro to become a Golden Arrow had failed, the nineteen year old decided that it was probably better if he just gave the whole thing up.

Then, as he was about to step into what he believed was a still deserted garage, he heard what it probably was the end of a conversation between his team mate and Kyosuke:

'Are you sure we can't tell him?' Kojiro was asking.

'No way,' Kyosuke replied, 'Akito would flip over this if he found out.'

'If I found out what?' Akito asked walking into the garage.

'Er…' they both went, looking very much as though as they had been caught red-handed.

'Does this have anything to do with what you've obviously been trying to keep from me for this past week?' Akito asked.

'Er…' both guys repeated.

'It does, doesn't it?' Akito said.

'Akito,' Kyosuke started, 'I don't think it's a good idea to have this conversation right before the race.'

'Oh crap!' Akito exclaimed then, almost as if he were talking to himself, he added, 'there wasn't any race for Kojiro, was there?'

'Er…' Kojiro started.

'Akito…' Kyosuke said.

'Why didn't you want him to race against you?' Akito interrupted him making both Kyosuke and Kojiro look rather confused, 'I hope it wasn't because you didn't think he could beat you because, if you ask me…'

'You honestly think I could lose racing against him, don't you?' Kyosuke asked beginning to sound quite hurt and almost offended.

'Guys,' Kojiro finally reacted, 'let's not take this out of context,' he added, 'Akito, I'm very flattered you actually think I could beat Kyosuke because I don't think so myself however, we will never know if I'd be able to for two reasons: one, you were right, we never raced and now that I'm a member of his team we'll never do; two, because the only one who's ever had to race his way into the team is you.'

'What?' Akito asked looking astounded, 'is he serious?' he then asked Kyosuke.

'Yes, sorry,' the older guy replied.

'You told me that to become a Golden Arrow one had to beat you,' Akito said accusingly.

'I never said that,' Kyosuke countered, 'you just assumed it was so and we all let you believe it.'

'I see,' Akito said and his confusion was turning quickly into dismay, 'you were just making fun of me again, weren't you?' he asked sounding rather miserable.

'No,' Kyosuke hurried to reply, putting his hand on Akito's shoulder, 'I just couldn't think of a better way to get you to drive seriously.'

'What?'

'Akito,' Kyosuke said, 'Seisuke and I know that you've never really taken us seriously. Not ever since that incident at the centre's karting track when we were kids.'

'That's rubbish!' Akito exclaimed, 'you and your brother have always been for me the inspiration I needed to carry on improving.'

'What are you talking about?' Kyosuke asked.

'Kyosuke,' Akito said, 'the reason I always push myself to keep getting better at street racing is because I've always known that you can surpass me any time you guys want.'

That made Kyosuke chuckle while Kojiro just stared at his team mate unable to believe that Akito could really be this naïve.

'Akito,' Kyosuke said, 'you've given us way too much credit then. Come on, do you seriously think we can beat you whenever we want?'

'Yeah,' Akito replied.

'Wrong,' Kyosuke said shaking his head, 'we've been chasing each other since we were kids but, deep down, both Seisuke and I have always known that you're the one who's got the talent to make it big in racing. For my brother and I, racing on the passes is just a way to have fun and to hone our driving skills; you, on the other hand, are already making a living out of it.'

'That's right,' Kojiro added, 'even I'm not quite as serious about racing as you are.'

'What are you talking about?' Akito said, 'you've been a professional racer for a lot longer than I have!'

'Yes I have,' Kojiro agreed, 'but, as you know, I'm not really interested in F1 or in any other of the big racing categories. In fact, if everything goes as I want, I'm probably going to move back to France at the end of this year.'

'What?' both Akito and Kyosuke asked at the same time.

'I'm missing Isabelle like crazy,' Kojiro explained, 'but that's not all: her father and I have been exchanging messages and we think it's doable for us to create a small drifting team to compete in the French championship.'

'But you just made it into the Golden Arrows!' Akito exclaimed, 'and what about this team?' he added gesturing with his hand indicating the whole garage.

'I'm very honoured that you guys accepted me into both,' Kojiro replied, 'and this is being a great experience for me but, I need to be honest with myself and I know that this is not where I belong.'

'I get it,' Kyosuke said nodding then, looking at Akito, he said, 'it looks like Hiroki's going to be getting a race seat from next year onwards.'

'I can't wait,' Akito said with using a very flat tone of voice and as he glanced at Kyosuke, both felt so sorry about seeing Kojiro go that it made them forget about their argument.

'Hey,' Kojiro said trying his best to be as cheerful as usual, 'what's with the long faces?' he asked, 'it's not like we will never see each other again! After all, my grandfather lives in Japan and I'll be coming every now and then to see both him and you guys.'

'Yeah,' Akito said while he thought that, no matter how mildly Kojiro wanted to put it, he was still going to be in the other freaking side of the planet and that made the nineteen year old racer feel very upset for he knew that, without Kojiro in the team, it would just not be the same.

Damn, he would actually miss the little guy!

A few hours later, Akito found that he no longer had the time to feel depressed about this and, as he climbed into his car to drive it to the pole position he'd conquered the previous day, he decided that he would leave for later the task of thinking of a way to make Kojiro change his mind.

'Focus on the race,' Kyosuke advised him as he did a quick check to the car before he and the rest of the crew would leave Akito alone on the grid.

'I know,' Akito said, 'don't worry.'

At long last, and after over a month since that extremely weird race in Suzuka, Akito was finally back behind the wheel, preparing himself mentally for the start of what it was his first race as a married man.

Comforted with the fact that he'd just had his usual pre-race chat with Ryoko, during which he'd found out that she was beginning to feel a bit better, Akito was able to give all he had when the lights turned green.

Flooring the small accelerator pedal inside the cockpit, Akito made it to the first corner of the Singapore circuit feeling so happy that he was back in his element that it made him think that Kyosuke was right: he was born to do this.

'Take it easy,' he heard his father's voice through the radio.

'I can't,' Akito replied as he entered yet another corner, noticing with immense pleasure that he was leaving everyone else, including his own team mate, behind.

Fifteen flying laps later and with Kojiro having already stopped to refuel, Akito was called by Keisuke into the boxes, this only made Akito increase his pace even further and, by the time he got into the pit lane, he had a thirty five second gap with his team mate's car.

'He really is going for it,' Fumihiro commented from his seat in the team's post at the pit lane's wall.

'Yep,' Takumi confirmed, 'he couldn't wait to get back into the car.'

'That punk,' Keisuke added with a soft chuckle.

'Here he comes,' Fumihiro said pointing at the white, yellow and black car coming their way then, all three men turned to watch their team get in action as they refuelled and changed the car's tyres then, as Kenta was about to rise the lollipop to allow Akito to go ahead, something happened at the next door's garage.

There was a light blue car parked there belonging to an Italian team which had just caught fire during the refuelling procedures.

'Shit,' Fumihiro muttered as he and Keisuke ran across the pit lane and towards the Italian team's garage where quite a few people were already there trying to put out the fire while, the seemingly unharmed car's driver, was being helped out of it.

'Make him go!' Keisuke shouted to Kenta while pointing at Akito's car with the young racer looking visibly confused about what was going on.

Kenta then signalled him to start rolling down the pit lane but, by the time Akito made it back onto the track, he saw himself behind the yellow and red car from the Supernova team.

'Crap,' Akito breathed while he prepared himself to start chasing after the extremely fast Brazilian driver who, he knew, was behind the Supernova's steering wheel.

Some good news came soon his way when he found out that Kojiro was now in command of the race and that, despite of what had happened at the pit lane, he was still in third position, for now, he thought with a determined frown appearing on his face.

Akito knew that he needed as many points as possible in order to ensure that he stayed on top of the driver's GP2 championship's classification chart and it was with that though in mind that Akito started attacking the Brazilian racer.

However, that was much easier said than done because the Brazilian was not only horribly fast but he was also very good when it came to defending himself so, after over three laps, Akito was still fighting to overtake him.

'Here I go,' he said to himself as he saw that, as the Supernova entered a right hand corner, the Brazilian lost the rear of his car for just long enough to leave a gap on the inside of the turn and Akito didn't think twice before he tried to push his car through that gap, hoping that he'd be fast enough to get ahead of the Brazilian at the corner's exit.

He wasn't and, for the umpteenth time, Akito saw himself stuck behind the red car when, half a lap later and as he widened the distance between his car and the Supernova, in preparation for a brand new attack, Akito saw something which made him believe that, after all, he had inherited a tiny bit of the Fujiwara luck:

A white cloud of smoke coming straight out from the Supernova's engine.

Fortunately for Akito, the Brazilian was enough of a professional to pull over as soon as he realised that his race was over and so, the nineteen year old just had to very careful with any traces of oil the blown up engine had probably left behind.

After that, it was all easy for Akito and the Takawara team ended the race with a one-two finish, only that this time, it would be Kojiro who'd claim the top spot.

'Why didn't you overtake me?' Kojiro asked Akito as they stepped onto the podium together with a French guy from the Arden International Racing Team.

'I couldn't catch you,' Akito lied.

'Yeah, right,' Kojiro said clearly not believing him but smiling at him nonetheless.

After that, the Takawara Racing Team celebrated what it had been a simply fantastic weekend then, after a few interviews, a party and a few more hours of travelling, Akito finally got back to the house he had just started sharing with his wife feeling rather happy that he could now look forward to a whole three weeks before they would have to leave Japan again for the eighth round of the GP2 season.

'Welcome home,' Ryoko said hugging him as soon as Akito left his bag at the house's entrance.

'Hi,' he replied returning the hug, 'I've missed you so much.'

'Me too,' Ryoko replied then, taking him by his hand, she led him to their living room.

'Has your aunt given you anything for the flu?' he asked her as they both sat down on the couch.

'Nope,' Ryoko replied.

'Oh well, you do look a lot better,' he said.

'Do I?' Ryoko asked him doubtfully.

'Ryoko,' Akito said suddenly getting worried, 'you're alright, aren't you?'

'I'm not sure,' Ryoko said making her husband stare at her with a very anxious expression. Doing her best to ignore that, she continued, 'I've been to see Aunt Akiko…'

'Ryoko…'

'Please, let me finish,' she said and, seeing his nod of agreement, she added, 'you know that I've been feeling weird ever since we came back from Barcelona, right?'

'Yeah,' Akito said.

'And we both thought that it was some sort of summer flu, right?'

'Right,' Akito said.

'Well,' Ryoko said, 'it turns out that I don't have the flu.'

'What is it then?' Akito asked unable to cope with any more suspense.

Ryoko looked at him clearly bracing herself against whatever she thought it was coming and, after taking a deep breath, she said:

'Akito, I'm pregnant.'

_To be continued…_


	37. Chapter Thirty Six

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Thirty Six_

Within less than sixty seconds, Akito felt so many different and contradicting sensations that they made his brain go into overdrive: he was stunned, confused, afraid, and worried and many more other things but, ultimately, he decided that he was just very happy.

'Akito?' he heard Ryoko's concerned voice say.

'Er…Ryoko…'

'I know,' she said interrupting him, 'it's too soon: we haven't even been married for a month and…it's just too soon,' she repeated, 'I'll understand if you…'

Akito took her face in his hands and deciding that it really was the best way to do so, he silenced her with a long kiss then, pulling himself away from her only far enough so he could look at her in the eye, he said:

'I'm very happy.'

Ryoko looked at him with a mix of worry and disbelief as she licked her lips with the tip of her tongue, a thing he knew she did every time she was extremely nervous about something.

'It'll be fine,' he said, 'it will, won't it?' he then asked her suddenly getting very serious.

'I guess so,' she finally replied.

'There's one thing I don't understand though,' he said, 'you were on the pill, weren't you?'

'Yes, but…'

'…they fail,' Akito finished for her.

'Yeah, they do,' Ryoko said, 'do you remember when I got sick because of that sauce they gave us at that bar in Barcelona with those weird looking potatoes?'

'The patatas bravas or something like that, yeah,' Akito replied, 'what about that?'

'Well, according to Aunt Akiko, we should have used extra protection after that.'

'Oops,' Akito said not being able to suppress a guilty looking smile.

'Big oops,' Ryoko agreed, 'the funny thing is that I haven't even missed my period yet. When I went to see Aunt Akiko she started asking me all sorts of questions and at the end she decided to take a blood sample. She then ran a pregnancy test without telling me and when the results came out.'

'Hang on,' Akito interrupted her, suddenly realising something of vital importance, 'if your aunt knows, your uncle probably knows too and if he does…oh my god…I'm dead…'

'Akito, what are you talking about?'

'Your father's going to kill me,' Akito said letting go of her hands and covering his face with his.

'Why?' Ryoko asked him.

'Ryoko,' Akito said as he slowly removed his hands from his face, 'like you said, we haven't been married for a month yet. He's going to think I got you pregnant before we got married.'

'No way,' Ryoko replied, 'I'm less than two weeks pregnant. Aunt Akiko said so when we did a confirmation scan.'

'You've already had your first scan?' Akito asked.

'Yes, I have a print out upstairs,' Ryoko replied, 'besides, I don't think Aunt Akiko is going to say anything to anyone without our permission.'

'Why not?' Akito asked.

'Because there is that doctor-patient confidentiality agreement, isn't there?' Ryoko replied, 'also because Aunt Akiko promised to me that she'll keep this a secret until we decide what to do.'

'What is for us to decide?' Akito asked and, before she had the time to reply, he said, 'besides choosing a name and a room for the baby, furnishing it and doing loads of shopping.'

'You want to have it?' Ryoko asked sounding rather incredulous but with a relieved smile on her face.

'Of course,' he replied firmly, 'you don't?' he then asked looking very worried.

'Akito!' she exclaimed, 'of course I want to have it.'

'Then, what's the problem?' he asked her.

'Oh, I don't know…we've just got married…we're not even twenty and…'

'And we love each other and we have a gigantic house which is waiting to be filled with loads of kids.'

'Loads?' Ryoko asked him worriedly.

'Okay, maybe not loads,' Akito conceded, 'but having a couple of them doesn't sound that bad to me.'

'You're not freaked out?' she asked him.

'Not really,' Akito said, 'sure, we could have waited for a bit longer but, hey, it's happened so it's great!'

This time it was Ryoko's turn to silence him with a kiss.

'I love you,' she said.

'I know,' he replied with a smug smile, 'god, I can't wait to tell your cousins about this.'

'Er…'

'Don't you want to tell them?' Akito asked her, getting very serious again.

'Yeah, but…' she started, 'isn't it a bit too soon to tell anybody? I mean…'

'You're right,' Akito said, 'we should wait until the first three months are over.'

'Yes, let's do that,' Ryoko agreed then, hugging her husband, she snuggled herself against his chest, 'I'm so happy you're not freaked out.'

'I'm not,' he confirmed as he started playing with her long and silky hair, 'but, I'm definitely not looking forward to your father's reaction when he'll find out.'

'Oh, forget about him,' she muttered.

'Yeah, right,' Akito said sceptically then, he decided to push that very frightening prospect aside and allowed himself to enjoy the fact that he was with the love of his life and that she was going to give him a child soon.

During the week which followed the news, Akito found that keeping his and his wife's upcoming parenthood a secret was a lot harder than he thought, especially because he kept spacing out thinking of everything which would be changing once they became a family.

'Hey, are you with us?' Kyosuke asked him as everyone busied themselves with the cleaning after the end of their training session on Saturday.

'Er…yeah…sorry, what was that?' Akito asked him back.

'We were saying that we'll meet up with the guys from the Nagano Alliance at that car park of the train station at the bottom of Mt Usui's pass,' Kizuna replied giving him an odd look.

'Alright,' Akito said, 'at what time?' he then asked her.

'We've told you about seven times this week,' Kyosuke said, 'the challenge is at nine so we should be there at least an hour before.'

'Ah, okay, eight then,' Akito said making Kyosuke and Kizuna stare at him in disbelief.

'Yes, Akito, eight,' Kyosuke replied, 'I'm glad you still remember your math,' he added almost sarcastically.

'Okay,' Akito said without taking offence or anything, 'I'll see you both then.'

With that, he just walked out of the garage and went to get changed so he could rush back to Tokyo where Ryoko was waiting for him.

'Is he alright?' Kizuna asked her fiancé.

'I don't think so,' Kyosuke replied, 'he's been like that for the whole week. He hasn't even asked me about the progress we're making on Seisuke's car.'

'Maybe he's just feeling the aftermath of the honeymoon,' Kizuna said.

'Maybe,' Kyosuke agreed shrugging his shoulders, 'in any case, I'll try to talk to him later.'

At precisely eight o'clock, both Takahashi brothers and the rest of the Golden Arrows, including their newest member Kojiro, saw Akito's V-86 driving into the car park and the first thing they all noticed was that he was driving a lot more carefully than he usually did.

'Hey,' Seisuke teased him as soon as he climbed out of the car, 'what was that, Driving Miss Daisy?'

'No,' Ryoko replied before her husband could, 'he's driving Mrs Fujiwara, who doesn't appreciate breaking the speed limits.'

Seisuke let out a sarcastic chuckle while Ryoko smiled at him with fake sweetness.

'Let's go,' Kyosuke ordered to everyone and then Seisuke walked to his car drawing Akito's attention to the new aerodynamic elements the two brothers had added to it.

'Wow,' Akito gasped as, ignoring Kyosuke's orders, he made his way to the white RZ-1 so he could admire it better, 'it looks amazing.'

'You haven't seen anything yet,' Seisuke said looking at his car proudly, 'after what we've done to it and seeing the way you're driving now, I could climb up that mountain over there before you'd even get into your car.'

'Maybe,' Akito said shrugging his shoulders, 'we better go now,' he added and, with that, he walked back to his car where Ryoko was already strapping herself to the passenger's bucket seat.

'Is he okay?' Seisuke asked looking at his brother over the roof of his RZ-1.

'I don't think so,' Kyosuke replied, 'let's think about our races for now, we'll have time to worry about Akito later.'

'Sure,' Seisuke said before he got into his car with Misa doing the same in her metallic red V37 which had been repainted after she'd crashed it during her race against the Kanto Kaisers.

Soon enough, all seventeen members of the Golden Arrows, plus Ryoko, Misa and most of the members of the Nagano Alliance, including their leader Hirota Yasuo, were at the top of the mountain pass waiting for the two black DC5s to show up which they only did a few minutes before nine.

'About bloody time,' a very nervous Seisuke said, 'who do they think they are?'

'Take it easy,' Kyosuke told him, 'save the energy for the race.'

Seisuke looked at his older brother almost as though as he was considering contradicting him but, thinking better, he just decided to obey Kyosuke's orders as he usually did.

'Oh, you came,' one of the twins said as they both climbed out of their Honda.

'Surprised?' Kyosuke said walking towards them.

'Not really,' the other twin said, 'after all, I don't think you would be so famous if you were a coward, isn't that right Kano?'

The twin called Kano nodded at his brother and, before Seisuke could literally bash both of them, Yasuo intervened:

'So, if I'm to understand this correctly, you're claiming Mt Usui as your territory.'

'That's right,' Kano said, 'if we beat the Golden Arrows here, I don't think you'll object to our claim, will you?'

Yasuo stared at him for a bit then, he glanced at Kyosuke and seeing his nod, the leader of the Nagano Alliance said:

'Alright, do your best.'

'We will,' Sano assured him.

Soon after this, Kyosuke decided to get the race started and since Kyosuke and Sano would be doing the uphill battle, they drove their cars down to the base together with Kizuna and Yasuo himself so that all four of them could wait for Seisuke and Kano to finish their downhill one. Ten minutes later and with everyone in their positions, Akito observed how Seisuke climbed into his RZ-1 after exchanging a quick word with a very worried looking Misa.

'He'll be fine,' Akito heard his wife say to Seisuke's partner, 'they always are.'

'I know,' Misa said.

'What is he doing?' Akito asked the two girls pointing at the black Honda which, for some strange reason, had allowed Seisuke to drive his car ahead of him.

'Ah, that,' Misa said, 'that Kano guy is so confident that he can win this race that has asked Seisuke to start the race ahead.'

'Is he retarded or what?' Akito asked her again.

'No,' Misa replied, 'he probably doesn't know how good Seisuke is at blocking people. Either that or…'

'No, no,' Ryoko interrupted her, 'we'll settle for the first option,' she said firmly.

Misa looked at her for a bit then, nodding, she decided that she also preferred the first option then, glancing at the two cars, she saw Junya there, preparing to do the countdown.

'Go, Seisuke go!' Masato and Izawa shouted the second the two cars disappeared around the tight left hand corner which marked the start of the 'official' course.

'Don't worry guys,' Kojiro said to his new team mates, 'he'll know how to avenge us.'

'That's right,' Akito said, 'they almost made you crash too.'

'Key word: almost,' Kojiro countered, 'if it were up to me, I'd race them myself.'

Akito looked at his usually peaceful and nice friend and after letting out an amused chuckle, he said:

'Those two have no idea who they've messed with.'

Kojiro stared at him for a bit before his lips curved to form a smile.

'They're lucky you were away,' he started, 'I don't know what you would have done if they had gone anywhere near your car.'

Akito glanced briefly at his precious V-86 then looked back at Kojiro before saying:

'I would have probably done the same thing you did: I would have called Kyosuke.'

Everyone who was there stared at Akito almost as if they couldn't believe their own ears, even those from the public who didn't know him all that well seemed surprised to hear him say something as reasonable as that. In any case, they all decided to pretend that nothing had happened, choosing to focus on the ongoing race instead.

Seisuke, meanwhile, was busy doing his best to stay in front of the Honda and, even if he hated having to admit it, whereas this guy's driving technique had nothing to do with the refined skills Seisuke himself had, he was still a decent enough driver to remain glued to the back of the newly overhauled RZ-1.

For now, Seisuke thought as he stole quick look at the tachometer, checking that he was keeping himself under the limit his brother's strategy imposed for the first half of the race. Unfortunately, for someone as aggressive as Seisuke, playing it conservatively was proving a lot harder than he had predicted, even so, Seisuke did his best to stick to it.

At long last, he reached the famous C-121 corner where the best drifters were able to show all their skills and after which Seisuke could finally start racing seriously fast then, as he was preparing himself to enter the wide left hand turn, he saw through his rear view mirror as the Integra went slightly off-course.

'What the…'

He barely had the time to finish the sentence for he realised what the guy driving the Honda wanted to do to him and, not really fancying getting a dent on his RZ-1, Seisuke opened his line just enough to prevent the Integra from crashing against his Mazda.

Unfortunately, with Seisuke having to move to the outside of the corner, he unwillingly opened a gap at the inside of it and, before he had the time to veer inwards so he could close that space, Kano stuck the nose of his Honda into it.

'Crap!' Seisuke said as he saw himself forced to let the DC5 go past him right at the exit of that the C-121 then, as he glued the front of his Mazda to the back of the Honda, he started thinking frantically of a way to get of this scenario.

A thought came up to him a couple of corners later when, observing the difficulty the Integra had when it came to exiting the corners, meaning that it probably had a much less powerful engine and that gave Seisuke an idea:

Trying to overtake someone as unpredictable as this guy was in one of the tight corners of this course would probably be way too dangerous so, even if what Seisuke had in mind was a bit of a gamble, if it had worked with his older brother during their training sessions, he didn't see why it couldn't work with this guy too. Especially taking into consideration the fact that Kyosuke was a much better driver than Adachi Kano.

'Oh no…' Kizuna gasped as they saw the two cars coming out from the very last corner of the course and heading towards the very long straight where Mt Usui's course ended, 'what went wrong?' she added looking at her fiancé with a dismayed expression on her face.

'My brother's good,' Sano said, 'that's what went…'

He didn't finish the sentence for, right at that instant, and as Kyosuke had predicted when seeing his brother behind, Seisuke, using all the horsepower his car's brand new RENESIS II engine had, overtook the Honda so easily that he crossed the finish line almost a full four seconds before the Integra did.

'Were you saying?' Kyosuke asked to an astonished looking Sano while Kizuna just stifled a chuckle.

'HEY!' a furious Seisuke shouted to Kano the minute they were both out of their cars, 'what in the fuck were you trying to do up there?' he asked him pointing at the mountain.

'What happened?' Kyosuke asked to his younger brother as he, Sano and Kizuna walked towards them then, before Seisuke could explain, Kano looked at his twin brother and, shaking his head, he said:

'I think we better leave this for today.'

'What?' Seisuke exclaimed.

'Don't get me wrong,' Kano said, 'we'll race again soon but, for now, I think you've won this battle.'

'Wait a minute,' Kyosuke said, 'I haven't raced your brother yet.'

'It doesn't matter,' Sano said, 'if my brother hasn't beaten yours, I don't think I'll be able to beat you.'

'Why not?' Seisuke asked him.

'Because I'm a better driver than he is,' Kano said and both Takahashi brothers were surprised to see Sano agreeing with that.

'But…' Seisuke said.

'Okay,' Kyosuke interrupted him, 'I have an idea: train yourselves as much as you want. We, the Takahashi brothers, will be there for whenever you want to race against us.'

'Alright,' the two twins said again at the same time and, with that, they both walked towards their Honda, climbing into them and driving away from Seisuke, Kyosuke, Kizuna and a very relieved looking Yasuo.

'What a pair of weirdos,' the guy said then, glancing at Kyosuke, he added, 'thanks a lot for this.'

'No problem,' Kyosuke replied, 'I only hope they won't cause you trouble.'

'After what you've done to them,' Yasuo said, 'I very much doubt it.'

Almost an hour later and with the Golden Arrows back at the car park of their home course in Mt Akagi, Seisuke, seeing that his older brother was keeping Akito busy, he walked towards the younger guy's V-86 where he saw Ryoko there, on her own, sitting on top of a nearby guardrail.

After sitting by his cousin's side, Seisuke said:

'Are you alright?'

'Yes,' was Ryoko's a tad too quick reply, 'why are you asking?'

'Oh, no reason,' Seisuke replied, 'other than the fact that Akito seems to treat you even more carefully than he usually does.'

'Ah, that,' Ryoko said, 'that's just him. He's been acting like this since we got married.'

'Right,' Seisuke said obviously not believing her, 'you're not sick anymore, are you?'

'No, I'm not,' Ryoko said, 'I feel much better, thanks.'

'Do you?' Seisuke asked her and something in his tone of voice made Ryoko stare at her cousin's handsome face, 'because,' he added, 'if you ask me, you look rather pale and as if you felt like throwing up. You're not pregnant, are you?'

The suddenness of the question made Ryoko's eyes widen with shock before she could train her features back to some resemblance of normality but, alas, it was too late:

'Oh my god!' Seisuke exclaimed, 'I was just kidding.'

'Seisuke,' Ryoko whispered furiously, looking around herself to make sure no one had heard their conversation, 'you can't tell anyone, okay?'

'Why not?' Seisuke asked her then, answering to his own question, he said, 'right, because if Uncle Keisuke finds out you were pregnant before you two got married, he'll kill Akito…'

'No,' Ryoko said, still whispering, 'I'm less than three weeks along: I got pregnant during the honeymoon.'

'Geez,' Seisuke said looking highly amused, 'that Akito sure is fast.'

'Seisuke,' Ryoko interrupted him, 'the the reason why I don't want to tell anyone is because I'm afraid people will start acting like you're doing right now. Also, I need more time myself to get used to it.'

'But…'

'Please,' Ryoko said, 'just don't tell anyone, okay?'

'Not even Misa?'

'No,' Ryoko replied, 'not even Misa.'

Seisuke looked at Ryoko for a short while before, to her utmost relief, she saw him nodding his agreement.

'Alright, it'll be our secret,' he said then, seeing her sceptic expression, he added, 'hey baby cousin, I've got very good at keeping secrets. In a few months time you'll see just how good.'

_To be continued…_


	38. Chapter Thirty Seven

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Thirty Seven_

Taking in consideration that summer had been officially over for more than a week, it was still remarkably warm and Haruko was only too happy about that since that meant that her last race of the junior karting championship would be held under the best weather conditions.

'Are you ready?' Takumi asked his daughter, poking his head through the partially open door.

'Yep,' Haruko replied grabbing her light denim jacket and the bag where she had her racing suit and all the other accessories she needed for the race.

'Good,' Takumi said, 'let's go now or your brother will get there before we do.'

Haruko nodded as she smiled happily. The eleven year old girl was very glad that the final race of the season had not coincided with that of the GP2 one for that meant that both her father and her older brother could be there to watch her do her best to conclude her championship with yet another win.

'Are you nervous?' Natsuki asked her daughter as the three of them climbed into the ancient but still very decent looking AE86.

'Nope,' Haruko replied in all honesty, 'I've already won the championship, haven't I?'

'Yes you have,' Natsuki confirmed glancing at the girl with her eyes full of motherly pride.

'Haruko,' Takumi said as he started the car's Group A engine, 'even if this last race is just a formality, I still want you to concentrate.'

'I know Dad, I know,' the girl said, 'poor Oniichan,' she added, 'to think he's got to put up with that for the whole time.'

'Hey,' Takumi warned her, 'watch what you say, you never now if you'll end up racing for me.'

Natsuki couldn't help but to laugh at the horrified expression which appeared on her daughter's face then, as they finally started making their way to the tofu shop where Bunta Fujiwara still lived so that they could pick him up, Haruko decided that it was much better if she remained quiet for the entire trip.

Meanwhile, Akito and his wife were onboard the V-86, travelling on their way to the New Tokyo Karting Circuit in the neighbouring prefecture of Chiba.

'One last race,' Ryoko commented.

'Yes,' Akito said, 'I wonder if she's as nervous as I was.'

'What are you talking about?' Ryoko asked her husband as she gave him a questioning look.

'Er…,' Akito hesitated, 'weren't you referring to my sister's race?'

'No silly,' Ryoko said chuckling softly, 'I was talking about your race.'

'Ah, that,' Akito said, 'are you sure you'll be able to come to watch me?'

'Sure I will,' Ryoko replied, 'I wouldn't miss it for the world!'

'But…'

'Baby,' Ryoko said, 'Aunt Akiko said that everything is perfectly okay and that, as long as I take things easy, she can't see any reason why I shouldn't be able to fly to Belgium.'

'It's just that it's a very long flight,' Akito said.

'Don't worry about it,' Ryoko assured him, 'besides, Seisuke's coming too and he knows about the baby.'

'Alright then,' Akito finally conceded, 'I can't believe he's managed to keep our secret for so long. He usually loves to gossip.'

'He is a doctor,' Ryoko pointed out, 'and this is very much a medical matter.'

'That's true too,' Akito agreed.

Half an hour later, the young couple parked their car next to that of the Takeuchi family and as they looked around the car park, they saw the AE86 parked somewhere nearby.

'My parents are already here,' Akito commented.

'So are mine,' Ryoko replied indicating the luxurious Mazda sedan Takahashi Keisuke drove nowadays.

'Great,' Akito half muttered with such a flat tone of voice that it made his wife smile then, shaking her head, she took her husband's hand in hers and they started making their way to the track where the race was going to be held. There, they saw every single one of the members of their two families and most of their friends.

'Hi Dad,' Akito said to Takumi, 'where's Haruko?'

'Getting things ready with her team,' Takumi replied and, as he followed his old man's gaze, Akito saw that, asides Haruko and their grandfather Bunta, the girl also had her best friend Toshi there who seemed to be paying loads of attention to what Haruko's team manager was telling her.

'Since when is Toshi so interested in karting?' Akito asked his father.

'Since never,' Takumi scowled, 'it's more like he's interested in the driver rather than the kart itself.'

Akito's stunned face was so funny that Ryoko had quite a bit of trouble trying to repress a fit of laughter and she was only saved by the track's speaker who announced that the race was about to start and, with that, everyone from the public turned their attention to the grid which was now being cleared by all the non-racers present there.

'I've told her to take it easy,' Bunta commented to his son the minute he and Toshi rejoined the rest of the group, 'but I don't think she's going to pay any attention to me. I swear: she's the most stubborn girl I've ever met, including your own mother.'

'She had to take it after someone,' Takumi said shrugging his shoulders.

'It's in the Fujiwara genes,' Natsuki added and, for some reason, that made Ryoko put her hand on her still very much flat tummy, 'you're alright?' Natsuki asked her noticing the gesture.

'Yeah,' Ryoko hurried to reply, 'a bit of tummy ache,' she lied.

'Ah, I've got some tablets for that if you need them,' Natsuki said.

'No, no, I'll be fine,' Ryoko replied shaking her head.

'Hey,' Akito said, 'we're going to miss the start…'

At long last, they all saw as Haruko's kart took off from its fourth place on the grid and, by the time the sixteen karts reached the first corner of the track, the girl was already attacking the kart in third place, managing to overtake him only a couple of turns later.

'So much for taking it easy,' Keisuke commented to no one in particular.

For the following five laps, the eleven year old girl tried very hard to get past the kart in second place pushing the poor kid so hard that at the end she didn't even have to make an effort: the young boy just spun out of the track on his own.

'That's my girl!' Bunta shouted happily.

'Er…Dad,' Takumi said, 'Haruko's my daughter.'

'Whatever,' Bunta said dismissingly.

Akito and Ryoko exchanged an amused look before turning their attention back to the race where they saw Haruko already chasing after the kart in first position. At the twentieth lap out of twenty five, and just as they were both lapping the racers in the last positions, Haruko made her move:

Taking the chance that they were being held back by a much slower kart, Haruko glued the front of her small vehicle to the back of the one in front of her and waited there patiently until the kart in first position made its move to lap the one in last, then, and defying not only good sense but also any kind of survival instincts she may have had, Haruko pushed her kart in between the one which was being lapped and the one she was most eager of overtaking.

Natsuki and Ryoko covered their eyes while the rest of the people there held their breath as they saw all three karts getting to an impossibly narrow corner and, just as everyone thought that they would all crash, they saw two of them pulling back, letting just one go through into the turn.

'YES!' Akito shouted happily seeing that his baby sister had managed to get ahead of the race.

'She's really is something,' an almost speechless Keisuke commented.

'Crap,' poor Hikaru said, 'thank goodness she wasn't driving this seriously when we raced. Otherwise…'

'Don't forget she wasn't feeling too well either,' Iketani pointed to his son making him look even more miserable.

Toshi, on the other hand, was simply too astounded to be able to think about anything to say because, after seeing what Haruko had just done, his victory in the inter-high football championship suddenly didn't seem like such an accomplishment and, as everyone went down from the grandstand to greet the winner of the race, the twelve year old boy just walked down the stairs feeling a bit like an automat.

'I've won!' Haruko shouted as she dropped her helmet onto the seat of her kart to start running towards them then, instead of going to her father, her brother or her grandfather, she just bypassed all three Fujiwara men, literally jumping onto Toshi, hugging him in a most boa-constrictor style.

'Well done!' Toshi replied pulling away from her just enough to be able to kiss her on her cheek.

'Right…' Takumi muttered throwing a dirty look at the poor twelve year old kid as he prepared to go there and kill something.

'Takumi,' Keisuke said putting his hand on his ex-best enemy's shoulder, 'the sooner you realise that your little girl is no longer little and is definitely not yours the happier you'll be.'

They all turned to look at him and, before Takumi had the time to reply to Keisuke, Bunta looked at the much younger man and said:

'You know, I'm surprised to hear you saying something as smart as that.'

All the people there started laughing out loud as a positively mortified looking Keisuke started pouting like a five year old kid.

A week later, at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium, the Takawara Racing Team was busy getting both of their cars ready for the last race of the GP2 season while Akito's mind was equally occupied trying to come up with a way to make his team mate stay in Japan for a while longer.

'Hey,' Takumi said to him, 'don't look so worried.'

'What?' Akito asked, suddenly feeling very confused, Takumi then sat down next to him and, after stealing a quick glance around the team's garage, he looked back at his son and said:

'You only need to finish third and the championship is yours.'

'I know that,' Akito said.

'Then, why are you looking so worried for?'

'Er…'

'Are you having problems with Ryoko?' Takumi asked him.

'Oh god no,' Akito hurried to reply, 'absolutely not. I just…it's something rather silly, really.'

'What is it?' Takumi insisted and then, after making sure Kojiro was nowhere hear around them, Akito explained everything to his father, 'I see…' his old man said after Akito had finished, 'I may know something which may convince Kojiro to stay on the team.'

'Really?'

'Yep,' Takumi said, 'but we'll tell you after the race, now I want you to focus on it, okay?'

'Sure,' Akito replied smiling happily, 'thanks Dad!'

'What am I here for, eh?' Takumi said smiling back at his son then, after tousling his longish hair, he got up and walked to where Keisuke and Fumihiro were.

Thanks to that conversation, and to the fact that Seisuke had assured him that Ryoko was perfectly alright, Akito had enough peace of mind to be able to climb into his car and think of nothing but the race he had ahead of him.

'Be careful,' Ryoko said to him just before he lowered his helmet's visor.

'I will be,' Akito replied with his voice muffled because of the padding then, strapping himself to the narrow cockpit's seat, he clipped the steering wheel on and then Kyosuke turned the car's engine on while next to them Kizuna was doing the same with that of Kojiro's car.

They all then observed as the two white, yellow and black cars rolled down the pit lane followed by another twenty two cars and, only a few minutes after that, they all were ready to start their formation lap with Akito starting from the pole position as he had done quite a few number of times throughout the season.

At the green lights, Akito took off not allowing anyone to get ahead of him, not even his team mate who, having started the race in third place, had already overtaken the car in second position and was now acting as some sort of human shield.

Noticing that made Akito feel rather grateful that he had a great team mate who he could rely on and that gave him the extra tranquillity he needed to just cruise around the first few laps, ensuring that he always kept a pace fast enough so that the gap between he and the rest of the cars would keep increasing too.

Half way around what was the fifteenth lap and as it was very common in this particular circuit, what it had started as a glorious sunny day it soon turned into a stormy one and soon enough, the first, fat drops of rain started falling onto the track's surface.

'Akito,' he heard his father's voice say through the radio, 'you better come in to change the tyres.'

'No Dad,' Akito said, 'I'm staying out until our scheduled pit stop.'

'What? Akito…'

'Dad, trust me, I know what I'm doing,' Akito interrupted him and, after taking a deep breath, he focused all his attention on the way his dry-condition tyres reacted to the now wet tarmac and within two or three laps, all the racers, including Kojiro, had changed their tyres to intermediate-ones.

Meanwhile, the rain was getting heavier still and soon Akito's arms and legs were getting rather shaky due to the tremendous efforts he was making in order to get his car to stay on the right lane of the course.

'Akito…' his father whispered, almost afraid that if he distracted his son too much he would make Akito spin out of the track.

'One more lap, I know,' Akito's strained sounding voice replied.

Half a minute later, the almost twenty year old man finally saw the entrance of the pit lane and within a few more seconds, he drove onto the place where his team was already waiting for him to refuel and to change the tyres, this time using full wet ones.

'That kid's amazing,' Fumihiro commented to Keisuke.

'He is,' Keisuke agreed as he observed that, thanks to his stubbornness, his ability and to the fact that the Takawara Racing Team's crew was a highly efficient one, Akito had managed to re-enter the track keeping his first place and, what was even better: he didn't have to do any more pit stops.

After that, and for the first time in the whole season, the Takawara Racing Team had a rather uneventful race and they were all extremely happy to see as, not only Akito crossed the finish line in first place, but Kojiro did so in second position too.

'You were right,' Takumi said to Keisuke as they climbed out of their seats at the pit lane's wall to walk back into the garage.

'About what?' Keisuke asked him.

'This has been one hell of a season,' Takumi replied giving him a huge smile.

'Oh yeah,' Keisuke agreed watching Akito become literally engulfed by a huge mass of people, taking him a significant amount of effort to get out of it so he could go and hug his wife.

'I'm so proud of you,' Ryoko said smiling though her tears of joy.

Akito couldn't do anything else than to hug her as tightly as it was safe, considering her delicate condition then, after receiving a well deserved kiss from her, Akito received the congratulations from everyone in his team.

'Hey champ,' Seisuke teased him.

'I am now,' Akito replied, finally realising that he was the 2024 GP2 champion and that, together with the extremely proud look he got from both his father and father in law, was worth every single bit of the pain and suffering he'd gone through in the over three years which had taken him to get there.

He had to postpone the proper celebrations until after the podium ceremony, the press conference, the autograph signing and the other hundred of things which he saw himself forced to do and only a good two hours later, he was finally allowed to go back to his team's motorhome.

Akito was busy chatting with Kojiro and Kyosuke when he saw Seisuke coming towards them with a middle aged man who looked oddly familiar to Akito.

'Hello there,' Keisuke said to that man.

'Nice to see you again,' the man said then, looking at Takumi, he said, 'you weren't kidding about your kid, he truly is something.'

'What's going on?' Akito asked them.

'Akito,' Seisuke said, 'please meet Okamoto-san, he's…'

'T-to…you're the Toyota F1 Team's Manager, aren't you?' Akito stuttered.

'I'm glad you know me,' Okamoto said, 'because I'm most interested in getting to know you.'

'Er…'

'Akito,' Keisuke said, 'Okamoto-san's been following you since the beginning of the season.'

'Your friend here,' Okamoto added pointing at Seisuke, 'was kind enough to make me notice that there was quite a talented driver racing for the Takawara Racing Team and, I can't say he was lying.'

'Seisuke,' Ryoko gasped in awe.

'I know,' Seisuke said grinning at his cousin, 'I told you I was good at keeping secrets, didn't I?'

'In any case,' Okamoto continued, 'besides a couple of incidents which had little or nothing to do with racing, everything I've seen during the season and, most specially during this race has led me to think that you may be what we're looking for.'

'W-what?' Akito stammered again.

'We'd like to invite you for a test in about a week's time,' Okamoto replied, 'so, if you're free then, we'll be waiting for you at the Motegi circuit.'

'Oh hell yes,' Akito couldn't help but to say, 'whenever you want,' he added.

Okamoto smiled at him in an almost grandfatherly way before he turned to Takumi and Keisuke to say:

'You know that usually we get our drivers from our own training programme but, unless I'm very much mistaken, he's got everything he needs to debut in F1 in next year's season.'

'I'm very honoured to hear you saying that,' Takumi said, 'thank you.'

'No,' Okamoto countered, 'if your kid keeps driving like that and he gets us the championship like he's done for you, I'll be the one thanking you.'

With that, he excused himself and walked back to where a woman, probably his secretary or the team's press officer, was waiting for him.

'Baby,' Akito said to Ryoko, 'pinch me.'

'What?' Ryoko asked.

'Please, pinch me so I know this wasn't all a dream,' Akito insisted.

'No son,' Takumi said, 'this was all very much real: what you've been dreaming of your whole life is at the tip of your fingers.'

_To be continued…_


	39. Chapter Thirty Eight

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

_Chapter Thirty Eight_

A week later, Akito found his father standing in the living room looking around himself, stopping to stare at a family picture Ryoko had decided to put on top of the mantelpiece.

'I'm ready,' he said to his old man, making him turn round to face him.

'Isn't Ryoko coming with us?' Takumi asked his son.

'Nope,' Akito replied, 'she needs to study,' he added not entirely lying for it was true that, whereas Ryoko needed to do some reviewing for her exams, she was also feeling pretty rough that morning.

'Okay,' Takumi said grabbing his jacket then, just as they were putting their shoes on at the entrance of the house, he said, 'I like what you two have done with the place.'

'Really?' Akito asked him.

'Yes,' Takumi replied, 'even when I was living here with your mother it never seemed like a proper home.'

'What do you mean?' Akito asked him not sure he wanted to know the answer.

'It wasn't us,' Takumi assured him, 'your mother and I were very happy here. It's just that the house always felt like…you know, like if it were one of these houses you see in the decoration magazines.'

'I see,' Akito said opening the front door, 'well, Ryoko insisted that she wanted to give it a bit of the homely look your house has.'

'She's succeeded,' Takumi confirmed, 'once you two decide to have kids, this is going to be a…'

A loud thud made him stop and looking at his son he saw that, for some unknown reason, Akito had banged his head against the doorframe.

'Ouch,' the young man complained as he rubbed the spot where he'd hit his head.

'Be careful,' Takumi said while he tried, and failed, to contain his laughter, 'you don't want to faint today.'

'Ha-ha, very funny,' Akito countered using a very sarcastic tone of voice, 'let's just go, okay?'

They parked the V-86 at the huge car park the Motegi Twin Ring circuit had and they were immediately met by Seisuke who was now running towards them.

'Didn't I tell you I didn't want public?' Akito asked his best friend.

'Hey,' Seisuke protested, 'it's just me and I'm only here because I happen to work in that clinic over there,' he added pointing at the light grey building which housed the circuit's health centre.

'Sorry, I didn't mean to…'

'I know,' Seisuke said smiling again, 'you're just nervous.'

'I'm not nervous,' Akito countered, trying to convince himself more than anyone else.

'Yeah, right,' Seisuke replied, obviously not buying it, 'in any case, I won't even be able to see you: I'm starting my shift in ten minutes.'

'I'm sorry to hear that,' Takumi commented, 'after all, you have played a very important role in all of this.'

'Nah,' Seisuke said brushing it off, 'I just mentioned Akito's name when Okamoto-san came into the clinic to see one of his drivers. Akito himself did the rest.'

'In any case,' Takumi insisted, 'thanks for that.'

'Yeah, I owe you one,' Akito agreed.

'I'll keep that in mind,' Seisuke said suddenly getting rather serious then, smiling again, he added, 'you better go now, or we'll both be late!'

Father and son watched as the young doctor walked away from them and into the small hospital where he was currently doing his residency then, both men made their way to the Toyota garage where there seemed to be quite a lot of activity going on.

'Son,' Takumi said, 'remember that you need to just drive the way you usually do: don't do anything more or anything less than that, okay?'

'Sure,' Akito replied then, taking a deep breath, they both stepped into the garage where they were greeted by Okamoto himself who was with yet another middle aged man dressed with the same Toyota F1 shirt.

'Akito, Fujiwara-san, let me introduce you to our technical director Hirate Kohei and this is one of our drivers Adrien Giraud.'

'It's an honour,' Akito said offering both men a deep bow while Takumi shook hands with Hirate and did the same then with the French racer who, clearly enough, didn't understand a word of Japanese.

'Are you ready?' Hirate asked Akito.

'Sure,' Akito replied, 'the sooner we start the better.'

Hirate exchanged an amused look with Okamoto and said:

'Okamoto, I think I like him already.'

'I told you, you would,' Okamoto said.

In the following hour or so, Hirate explained to Akito about the main differences between a GP2 car and an F1 one and, only after Hirate was convinced that Akito had understood everything, they allowed him to get changed into one of their spare racing suits.

'Don't overdo it at first,' Hirate told Akito as soon as he was suited up, 'just take it out nice and easy. We'll tell you through the radio when we think you're ready to push it.'

'Got it,' Akito said then, for the first time in his life, he climbed into an F1 car. A real F1 car. He still couldn't believe it was happening to him. Hell, even if he failed the test, he could still say that he'd driven a real F1 car once in his life and that was more than enough for him.

Exchanging a quick look with his father, getting a reassuring nod from him, Akito lowered his visor as he saw the mechanics from the team clipping the steering wheel for him and double checking that his harness was properly fastened.

Akito took a couple of minutes to familiarise himself with the car's minuscule dashboard, trying to remember everything Hirate-san had told him then, taking a couple of deep, steadying breaths, Akito selected the first gear with the paddles behind the steering wheel, pressed the accelerator and off he went.

'Not bad,' Hirate said, 'he didn't stall the engine.'

'What?' Takumi asked him, trying to decide whether the director was joking or not.

'No offence meant, Fujiwara-san,' Hirate hurried to explain, 'is just that many drivers get nervous the first time they drive an F1 car and they actually manage to stall its engine.'

Takumi looked at Hirate in disbelief before he went back to pay attention to what his son was doing.

Meanwhile Akito used the first few laps to get used to the car, just as he had been told then, as the number of laps went into double digits, he realised something very important: even if this car's engine was a lot more powerful, it still reacted to his touch more or less the same way the one under the V-86's bonnet did and, with that piece of knowledge, Akito started driving the way he liked best: feeling completely under control.

Fifty laps later, Akito was asked to go back into the boxes and, for a short panicky minute, the young racer thought that they had seen enough and that they wanted to tell him that, 'thanks but no thanks' he'd been fearing so much.

Almost afraid of getting out of the car, he got up inside the cockpit as slowly as he could then, removing his gloves and helmet, Akito looked at his father who, for some weird reason, had a huge grin on his face.

'Dad?' he asked him as he stepped out of the F1 car.

'Fujiwara-kun,' Okamoto said, 'I'm so happy that you didn't disappoint our expectations.'

'W-what?' Akito stuttered.

'Boy,' Hirate said, 'we still have to bring this to our Board of Directors but, if we have any say in the matter, we've just found our new driver.'

Akito's throat seemed to lose its ability to produce any sounds and all he could do was to feel his whole body shaking with very badly contained emotion.

'Akito,' Takumi said putting a hand on his son's shoulders, 'you better go and get changed so you can thank these people properly.'

Nodding in an almost idiotic manner, Akito went, got changed and came back only managing to choke a very strained sounding 'thanks' out of his throat before his father, taking pity of him, decided to remove him from his future team manager's presence.

'How did it go?' Seisuke asked them, using his coffee break to go and speak to them.

'It went great,' Takumi replied, 'now I better take him home before he faints for real,' he added and Seisuke chuckled seeing the blank expression on his best friend's face.

'Yeah,' Seisuke agreed, 'Takumi-san, do me a favour, don't let him drive.'

'No way,' Takumi said and Akito was so nervous about what had just happened that he didn't even notice, much less complain, when his father got behind the wheel of his V-86 and only as they left the motorway to drive up to the house he now shared with his wife, he finally reacted:

'Dad, stop the car,' he managed to say.

Takumi obeyed immediately and, as soon as he did that, Akito opened the door and was extremely grateful that there was no one around for, the second he stepped out of the car he started throwing up everything he had in his stomach.

'Oh crap,' Takumi said as he too climbed out of his son's car, rushing to his side, 'hey,' he said rubbing the upper section of Akito's back.

'Bleah,' Akito muttered as he wiped his mouth clean with the back of his hand, realising that he was crying too, 'I'm the biggest pussy in the whole planet,' he whimpered making Takumi let out a chuckle.

'It is a great way to start one's F1 career,' Takumi commented, 'I can almost see it when they'll write your biography: great racer Fujiwara Akito started his career by being sick and crying like a baby.'

'Dad!' Akito protested, getting back up.

'I was just kidding,' Takumi hurried to say, 'geez son and then people say I don't have a sense of humour!'

The confirmation from the Toyota F1 team came two very short days later, precisely in the afternoon of Akito's twentieth birthday and as everyone was gathered in the Centre's common room, ready to celebrate Akito's promotion to F1.

'Happy birthday to me,' an ecstatic looking Akito said clutching the print out from the email in which the Toyota Motorsports Corporation were kindly asking him to go to their offices sometime during the following week to sign a contract with them.

'Speaking of contracts,' Keisuke said looking at Hiroki and Kojiro, 'I have a couple of them at my office.'

'Keisuke-san…' Kojiro said looking at the older man in dismay.

'We'll also have a new member of the staff this year,' Keisuke continued, ignoring Kojiro's complaints then, turning to Takumi, he added, 'Takumi, if you please.'

The former tofu delivery boy walked out of the common room only to come back a few instants later accompanied by three people Kojiro knew all too well.

'ISABELLE!' the eighteen year old shouted as he ran towards his French girlfriend, 'qu'est-ce que tu fais ici?'

Everyone watched as Isabelle explained something to Kojiro in such fast French that Akito couldn't help but to admire his friend for the fact that the younger man seemed to actually understand what the girl was saying.

'What?' Kojiro asked, thankfully speaking in Japanese.

'That's right,' Keisuke said, 'I've asked Isabelle's father to work for us and he and his wife have accepted to move here. Mainly because they know that your grandfather's getting old and that it would be very hard for you to choose between he and Isabelle.'

'I don't know what to say…'

'Happy?' Isabelle asked him in heavily accented Japanese, shocking everyone in the process.

'Yes!' Kojiro exclaimed as he hugged her again.

'Didn't I tell you we'd fix this too?' Takumi muttered to his son who could only bring himself to nod.

A few days after that, and while Akito went to the Toyota headquarters to sign the contract which would tie him with them for the following year, Ryoko was at the Takahashi residence helping her mother and her aunt to prepare their two attached houses for the very special guests who would be arriving in just a few hours time.

Kyoko and Akiko were busy trying to decide the guest rooms which they would use when they heard the main front door open.

'Isn't it too soon?' Kyoko asked to her sister in law with a panicked expression on her face.

'Yes, it is,' Akiko replied then, to their relief, they saw Misa and Seisuke coming into the living room.

'Did we scare you?' Seisuke asked with his usual cheeky smile.

'Very funny son,' Akiko replied flatly, 'while you're here, why don't you help us bringing down a few things from the attic?'

'See Misa?' Seisuke said to his girlfriend, 'I told you we had to come later…'

A few hours later and with the house finally ready for the guests, the heard the main front door open again and, this time, they really were their guests.

'They're here!' Kyoko exclaimed excitedly.

'Geez Mum,' Ryoko complained, 'it's not you who should be this nervous, after all, it's Aunt Akiko who is about to meet her future daughter in law's family.'

'Well, I'm definitely not nervous,' Akiko said, 'after all, Salina and I have been speaking on the phone for months already so, I know her fairly well by now.'

'Still,' Kyoko insisted, 'having Americans in the house is very exciting!'

Everyone looked at Kyoko with an expression full of pity and very soon, hers turned into an almost offended one but they all replaced those with a friendly smile as soon as Kyosuke stepped into the living room followed by Kizuna who was busy talking to a beautiful and elegantly dressed woman; behind them, they saw Ryosuke and Keisuke engaged in a very animated discussion over the pros and cons of Japanese cars versus American ones with a guy who looked like an slightly younger and American version of Bunta Fujiwara.

'Everybody,' Kyosuke said, 'this is Salina, Kizuna's mother and this gentleman here is Uncle Josh.'

'Welcome to our home,' Akiko said to Salina exchanging a kind smile with her.

'Thank you for having us,' Salina replied.

'Where are the rest of them?' Seisuke asked his brother.

'They're in Tokyo,' Kyosuke replied, 'they'll stay there for the week and will join us for the wedding.'

'Ah, I see,' Seisuke said.

As they agreed, neither Kyosuke nor Kizuna had their stag and hen nights, instead, the Golden Arrows, and a few other Gunma racers gathered for one last time the night before the wedding to celebrate the fact that their leader was about to get married to the only female member of the team.

'This makes me feel so old,' Akito commented to his best friends.

'What does?' Kyosuke asked.

'Us,' Akito replied, 'I'm already married, you're on your way there, Seisuke and Misa have been living together for quite a while and…well…'

'Oh quit being so sentimental,' Seisuke said, 'you're going to make us all cry and we're supposed to have fun here, remember?'

'That's right,' Kojiro said and, looking at him, they all realised that the guy looked even more cheerful than usual, probably due to the fact that his Isabelle was there, right next to him, 'let's all go for a drive!'

'YES!' everyone shouted.

Soon, most of the Golden Arrows were onboard their very fast vehicles and, for the very few people who were privileged enough to be there, they saw the parallel drift from the Takahashi brothers and the two V-86s in action together.

'Do you think we'll get challenges as exciting as the ones we've got this year?' Masato asked Izawa.

'Oh, I hope they'll be better than that!' Junya said.

Kyosuke and Seisuke exchanged a quick glance before looking over to their two professional racers who were discussing about the different ways they could combine their GP2 and F1 careers with their love for street racing.

A few hours after that, the two brothers were standing by the altar of the very church where, a few months before, Akito and Ryoko had got married.

'Don't worry Aniki,' Seisuke said, 'everything's been carefully planned.'

'I know,' Kyosuke replied, 'I can't even begin to imagine how you manage to stay so calm.'

Seisuke was about to reply that he was a doctor when the church's doors opened and what he saw made him close his mouth and smile instead.

'Wow,' Kyosuke gasped, 'she's so beautiful.'

'She is,' Seisuke confirmed but soon, everyone realised that he wasn't referring to Kizuna who indeed looked amazing in her ivory coloured wedding dress as she was being walked down the aisle by her Uncle Josh.

Instead, he was talking about his beautiful girlfriend Misa who was walking down the aisle too, accompanied by her proud looking father and wearing a white wedding kimono.

'What is going in here?' Keisuke asked.

'I think it's obvious,' Ryosuke replied, 'the boys have decided to get married the same day without telling us first.'

'Dad,' Kyosuke said, 'as usual, your diagnosis is spot on.'

Ryosuke smiled at his older son as everyone in the church started to, very slowly, recover from the shock.

'Akito,' Seisuke said, 'remember that huge favour you owed me?'

'What about it?' Akito said.

'Well, since Aniki and I are both going to be busy being the grooms, we're going to need a best man, so, I hope you're up for the job of doing that for the two of us.'

'Sure,' Akito said and, with that, he got up at the same time Ryoko was being asked by Misa and Kizuna to be the Matron of Honour for them.

After a short ceremony, in both English and Japanese, the two newly married couples received their guests in what had suddenly become a very crowded wedding party but no one seemed to mind in the slightest for, like the always pragmatic Akiko said, 'this was a very practical way of getting your children married.'

'Akito,' Ryoko said as the two of them were dancing, 'I think that the moment has come.'

'What? Now?' Akito asked her.

'Yes,' Ryoko replied, 'I've asked Seisuke and he thinks so too.'

'Alright,' Akito said, 'I guess he's not going to kill me in front of so many guests.'

Ryoko just laughed at that as the two of them stopped dancing to make their way to the table where Keisuke Takahashi with his wife, brother and sister in law were.

Then, somehow sensing that something huge was about to happen, both Kyosuke and Seisuke, plus their wives, all the Fujiwaras and most of the guests stopped doing what they were doing and glanced at Akito and Ryoko.

'Dad,' the girl said, 'Akito and I have to tell you something.'

Keisuke looked at his daughter for a bit, then to his son in law before looking back at his daughter.

'What is it?'

'This coming spring,' Ryoko said, 'Akito and I will become parents.'

While Takumi, Natsuki and Kyoko looked absolutely stunned at the news, it took Keisuke a fraction of a second to put one plus one together and when it became three in his brain, he finally reacted in a way which no one, not even his brother could have ever predicted:

'Aniki!' Keisuke shouted happily, 'at long last I've done it!'

'Done what?' Ryosuke asked him, trying to appear serious although he really wanted to burst out laughing.

'I'm going to do something before you will!'

'And that is?' Ryosuke asked him, this time with a highly amused expression on his face.

'I'm going to be a grandfather!' Keisuke Takahashi shouted so loud that everyone started laughing with him even Akito who was extremely happy about the fact that, once again, he had managed to come out from a confrontation with his father in law unharmed.

For now, he added mentally, remembering what his grandfather always said: always be ready for the enemy!

_To be concluded…_


	40. Epilogue

**Programmed Lives – Final Stage**

Maebashi – Halloween 2028

_Epilogue_

As Akito parked his V-86 at the Takahashi Motorsports Centre in Maebashi, he remembered the happy faces of Okamoto-san and Hirate-san when he'd signed the second renewal of his contract. They had every reason to be glad about keeping Akito in the team for, despite a first disappointing two seasons during which Akito had only managed to scrap two wins, a few points together with a couple of pole positions and a fastest lap, this season he had given the team five GP wins, quite a few podium finishes and he'd managed to secure the runner up position in the championship's final standings. Akito knew that the 2029 season had his name on it, especially now that they would have a very special chief engineer working with them: Takahashi Kyosuke.

'Hey!' Akito exclaimed seeing him climbing out of his car as he helped his wife Kizuna with their one and a half year old twin daughters.

'How're you doing?' Kyosuke asked.

'Not too bad,' Akito replied, 'I just came back from Brazil so I'm still a bit messed up with the time zones.'

'That's right,' Kizuna said, as she carried one of her daughters' in the baby carrier, 'that's probably been one of your best races ever. What you did to that poor German guy was amazing.'

'Yeah, well…'

'Don't be modest,' Kyosuke said, 'you overtook the reigning world champion Mick Schumacher!'

'I did,' Akito admitted trying not to sound too smug, 'and it felt great!'

Kizuna and Kyosuke started laughing with their baby girls looking at them as though as they believed that their parents had suddenly lost their marbles.

'In any case,' Akito added, 'next year will be even better: I can't wait to have you in the team.'

'I know,' Kyosuke said, 'I can't wait to start working in F1 either. It's freaking fantastic that we'll be working together again!'

'Yeah,' Kizuna agreed, 'if only it weren't because someone's got to look after Keiko and Reiko, I'd love to follow you guys too.'

'They're not going to be that small forever,' the three of them heard Seisuke's cheerful voice say.

'Speaking though personal experience?' Kyosuke asked his younger brother after giving him a quick one arm hug.

'Yep,' Seisuke replied as he looked over to his wife Misa who was walking towards them holding their two year old son, Ryu's little hand.

'Guys,' Akito said, 'we better go inside, Ryoko's probably waiting for us to help her set up.'

When they finally stepped into the common room they saw the centre's new assistant manager Ryoko, with a few of her staff members, busy putting up the decorations for the Halloween party she had organised.

'Akito!' she exclaimed seeing her husband there, 'why didn't you tell me you were back?'

'Oh,' Akito said, 'we managed to get an earlier flight. I simply couldn't wait to see you.'

'Daddy,' he heard a very familiar sounding voice say and, turning round, he saw his two and a half year old son, Kiseki tugging the leg of his trousers.

'Hey little guy,' Akito said taking him in his arms, 'how're you doing?'

'Grandpa Keikei took me boom, boom,' the boy announced happily.

'Did he now?' Akito said, 'and what did Mum think about that?'

'Mum was certainly not happy,' Ryoko replied making little Kiseki smile guiltily.

'Baby cousin,' Seisuke said passing an arm around Ryoko's shoulders, 'don't even try to fight it: your son is half Takahashi and half Fujiwara, there's no doubt in hell that he'll become a racer.'

'That's right,' Kyosuke agreed, 'in a few years time we'll have Kiseki, Ryu and the twins drifting all the way down either Mt Akagi or Mt Akina.'

'Or ice skating,' Ryoko suggested.

'Nah,' they all said at the same time then, even Ryoko herself, everyone burst out laughing.

'Someone's having fun in here,' Keisuke Takahashi said, walking into the room followed by his wife and Takumi Fujiwara with his fourteen year old daughter Haruko.

'Oniichan!' the girl shouted seeing her older brother there running towards him so she could hug him.

'Hey there,' Akito said, 'is it true what I've heard about you?'

'About the fact that I've won the Japanese Karting Championship this year too?' Haruko asked.

'No silly,' Akito replied, 'about the fact that you and Toshi are going out now.'

'Ah, that,' Haruko said getting rather red all of a sudden, 'yeah, that's true too,' she finally admitted.

'Please, don't remind me,' Takumi asked his son, 'I'm still trying to come to terms with that.'

'Dad,' Haruko complained, 'Toshi's a great guy and he's going to be a great footballer!'

'Right,' Takumi said, 'he won't be much of a footballer if he hurts you in any way because I'll personally break both of his legs.'

The sudden arrival of even more people prevented Haruko from replying to that, even more so because one of these people was her own fifteen year old boyfriend Toshi.

'Let's go outside,' Haruko said, literally dragging the poor boy out of the room.

'History's repeating itself,' Ryoko commented to her husband with a small smile on her face.

'Well,' Akito said, 'if the outcome is the same that's been for us, I'll be very happy to welcome Toshi into the family.'

'Come on,' Ryoko countered, 'Toshi's already part of our family. The same way you were part of mine even before we got together.'

'You're right there,' Akito agreed and he was about to add something else when he saw eighteen year old Hikaru coming towards him.

'Akito-san,' he said, 'would you mind signing me an autograph?'

'What? Hikaru…'

'It's not for me,' Hikaru hurried to say, 'it's for a customer from Dad's shop. While I was fixing his car he commented that he knew you had started your racing career in this area and when Dad and I said we knew you he asked us if we could get him an autograph.'

'Ah,' Akito said, 'then I'll be happy to sign it for you,' he added making the teenager very happy.

'Er…' he hesitated, 'while you're at it, maybe you could consider giving me a few more, you know, for my school mates…'

'Alright,' Akito conceded and, seeing who was coming through the door, he added, 'I'll sign everything you want later, okay?'

Hikaru nodded and, with that, Akito, Ryoko and little Kiseki went to greet Kojiro who had just entered the room accompanied by his French girlfriend Isabelle.

'Good afternoon,' the girl said in Japanese.

'You've got very good,' Akito commented to her.

'I'm studying very hard,' she replied.

'Yes,' Kojiro confirmed, 'she wants to be an interpreter.'

'And I've seen that you're following your grandfather's footsteps in D1,' Akito said.

'That's right,' Kojiro replied, 'did you hear about Hiroki?' he asked him.

'Yes,' Akito replied, 'I can't believe he's in the Indy Racing League.'

'I can,' Ryoko countered, 'it probably feels like home to him.'

'You're right,' Akito agreed, 'after all, Indy Racing is more his style.'

'Admit it though,' Kojiro said, 'you're happy you've got him nowhere near the F1 circus.'

'Oh yes,' Akito said, 'I simply cannot imagine Hiroki in F1.'

Kojiro and Ryoko nodded at that while Isabelle just smiled, feeling very happy that she was beginning to understand quite a lot of their conversation.

A few hours later, and with all the kids in the loving care of their respective grandparents, Akito, Ryoko, the two Takahashi brothers and their wives, Kojiro and Isabelle went all the way to the summit of Mt. Akagi where a few members of the Golden Arrows were there waiting for them.

Nowadays the Golden Arrows were more a group of friends who liked to meet up every now and then rather than the highly competitive team they used to be but, in any case, none of the local teams, not even the newly formed groups, were able to beat them yet.

'Five years,' Akito said all of a sudden as they all stared at the dark, starry sky.

'What?' Seisuke asked.

'Today's been five years since I became a member of the Golden Arrows,' Akito replied.

'Yep,' Kyosuke said, 'I still remember when you beat me.'

'I still can't believe you made me race my way into the team,' Akito commented.

'You know why I did it,' Kyosuke countered.

'Guys,' Seisuke interrupted them, 'this is simply fantastic.'

'What is?' Ryoko asked.

'Us,' Seisuke replied, 'we've all done with our lives exactly what we wanted to do.'

'Yep,' Kyosuke agreed.

'I hope our kids will be this lucky too,' Kizuna said as she snuggled herself to her husband.

'Me too,' Misa added.

'You know what?' Akito said, 'I don't care what they do, as long as they're as happy as we are now.'

Everyone nodded their agreement then, after a few minutes of silence, they all got into their cars and with Kyosuke and Seisuke leading the group, they all went down the Mt Akagi course.

**THE END**

**

* * *

**

**COMPLETE CHARACTER LIST:**

_(I've added Name, Age, Car, Family and a short explanation of who they are in the highly unlikely case anyone ever wants to use them for their stories; the age refers to the one at the end of this epilogue)_

Akito Fujiwara, 23, panda coloured Toyota Vera V-86, Takumi (father), Natsuki (adoptive mother), Minami (real mother), Haruko (sister), Ryoko (wife), Kiseki (son), driver for the Toyota F1 Team.

Ryoko Fujiwara, 23, red Mazda MX-8, Keisuke (father), Kyoko (mother), Akito (husband), Kiseki (son), assistant manager of the Takahashi Motorsports Centre.

Kyosuke Takahashi, 27, yellow Mazda RZ-1, Ryosuke (father), Akiko (mother), Seisuke (brother), Kizuna (wife), Reiko and Keiko (twin daughters), Chief Engineer for the Toyota F1 Team.

Kizuna Takahashi, 27, dark grey Nissan 350Z, Kenneth (father), Salina (mother), Kyosuke (husband), Reiko and Keiko (twin daughters), she's currently a housewife but will re-start working as an engineer soon.

Seisuke Takahashi, 26, white Mazda RZ-1, Ryosuke (father), Akiko (mother), Kyosuke (brother), Misa (wife), Ryu (son), full time doctor at the Motegi Twin Ring's clinic. He's training to become a FIA doctor.

Misa Takahashi, 24, red Nissan V37, Tatsuya (father), Shin (brother), Seisuke (husband), Ryu (son), she's now a full time lawyer working in her father's firm.

Kojiro Tsuchiya, 22, jade green Toyota Vera V-86, Keiichi (grandfather), he's now a D1 driver and has won the GP2 title twice in a row.

Isabelle Lagarrigue, 22, Kojiro's girlfriend, is studying to become a French-Japanese interpreter.

Hiroki Suetsugu, 24, bright orange Mitsubishi Eclipse GT, Tohru (father), Nao (mother), he's a driver competing in the Indy Racing League.

Haruko Fujiwara, 14, none yet, Takumi (father), Natsuki (mother), Akito (brother), she's a student and a kart racer: she has won the Japanese Karting Championship in two different categories.

Toshi Takeuchi, 15, none yet, Itsuki (father), Mariko (mother), he's a student and plays for the Shibukawa High School football team.

Hikaru Iketani, 18, none yet, Koichiro (father), Mako (mother), he's a student and a part time mechanic working at his father's repairs shop.

Yoshiko, 17, none yet, Kenji (father), Sayuki (mother), she's a student and has been in love with Hikaru forever. She hasn't given up on him yet, even more now that he's single again!

Bunta Fujiwara, 76, Subaru Impreza, Takumi (son), Akito (grandson), Haruko (granddaughter), Kiseki (great-grandson). Still lives in the Fujiwara Tofu Shop and acts as an advisor whenever needed.

Takumi Fujiwara, 47, Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86, Bunta (father), Natsuki (wife), Akito (son), Haruko (daughter), Kiseki (grandson), ex-pro racer, ex-co manager of the Takawara Racing Team, now is a talent scout with Keisuke Takahashi and they both are managers of Akito and Kojiro.

Natsuki Fujiwara, 47, Nissan Micra, Takumi (husband), Akito (adoptive son), Haruko (daughter), Kiseki (grandson), she's still a teacher in the Shibukawa School.

Ryosuke Takahashi, 52, too many to list, Akiko (wife), Keisuke (brother), Kyosuke (son), Seisuke (son), Keiko and Reiko (granddaughters), Ryu (grandson). Co-Director of the Takahashi-Arakawa Group.

Akiko Takahashi, 52, too many to list, Ryosuke (husband), Kyosuke (son), Seisuke (son), Keiko and Reiko (granddaughters), Ryu (grandson). Co-Director of the Takahashi-Arakawa Group.

Keisuke Takahashi, 50, too many to list, Kyoko (wife), Ryosuke (brother), Ryoko (daughter), Kiseki (grandson). Ex-pro racer, ex-co manager of the Takawara Racing Team, now is a talent scout with Takumi Fujiwara and they both are managers of Akito and Kojiro.

Kyoko Takahashi, 49, too many to list, Keisuke (husband), Ryoko (daughter), Kiseki (grandson), Full time manager and instructor of the Takahashi Motorsports Centre.

Tohru Suetsugu, 51, Nao (wife), Hiroki (son), manager of his son Hiroki.

Itsuki Takeuchi, 47, Mariko (wife), Toshi (son), co-owner of the Shibukawa Repairs Shop.

Mariko Takeuchi, 46, Itsuki (husband), Toshi (son), ex-model, owner of a fashion accessories shop.

Koichiro Iketani, 50, Mako (wife), Hikaru (son), co-owner of the Shibukawa Repairs Shop.

Mako Iketani, 50, Koichiro (husband), Hikaru (son), full time housewife.

Kenji, 50, Sayuki (wife), Yoshiko (daughter), co-owner of the Shibukawa Repairs Shop.

Sayuki, 50, Kenji (husband), Yoshiko (daughter), also a full time housewife.

Taro Nakazato, 27, dark blue Mitsubishi X-3, Takeshi (uncle), leader of the Myogi Devils and first opponent of Seisuke Takahashi.

Jiro Kosugi, 27, mica Honda Civic Coupe Si, leader of the Tochigi Thunders.

Atsuko Hayase, 23, canary yellow Mazda MX-8, from the Hakone Maniacs has the honour of being the first of only rival of Ryoko Takahashi. Now she's retired from street racing because she's got a son. She lives with Ichiro Ozawa.

Ichiro Ozawa, 28, dark red Honda NSX RR, leader of the Hakone Maniacs, lives now with Atsuko Hayase and their son. He was involved in the accident in which Misa's older brother died.

Kazuo Takikawa, 33, black Nissan R36, he's now retired from street racing. He was Kyosuke Takahashi's first rival.

Junya Shimano, 28, light blue Nismo-tuned Nissan S18, he's still a member of the Golden Arrows.

Shinji Sakura, 24, silver Honda Accura Coupe, still a member of the Golden Arrows.

Yayoi, 23, Ryoko Takahashi's best friend from high school and bridesmaid during her wedding to Akito.

* * *

**STATS AND THANKS:**

Up to today February 14th 2007, these are the statistics of Programmed Lives:

First Stage – Chapters: 19, Words: 35,339, start date: July 19th 2006, finish date: August 21st 2006.

Second Stage – Chapters: 33, Words: 69,126, start date: August 25th 2006, finish date: October 8th 2006.

Third Stage – Chapters: 26, Words: 58,701, start date: October 10th 2006, finish date: October 25th 2006.

Fourth Stage – Chapters: 18, Words: 41,236, start date: October 27th 2006, finish date: November 7th 2006.

Fifth Stage – Chapters: 36, Words: 97,878, start date: November 14th 2006, finish date: December 15th 2006.

Final Stage – Chapters: 40, Words: 117,231, start date: December 29th 2006, finish date: February 14th 2007.

The total word count for the whole series is: 419,511 distributed in, 6 prologues, 6 epilogues and 160 chapters, making a grand total of 172 updates in 175 days, this means that you guys got an update every 1.01 days. Not bad, huh?

However, none of this would have ever been possible without the almost forty five thousand hits this series has got and the 524 reviews that some exceptionally kind people have left for me.

You know that I will never, ever be able to thank you enough for the support, encouragement and extremely good advice I got from you which, I hope, I've applied in a way which has helped me improve the quality of my writing.

That said, I would like to say to all of you that I already have a couple of stories in mind and that one of them is Initial D based and that I will decide very soon which one I want to write first but, for now, I think I'll take a much needed break (mind you, it'll be a short one because it's hard for me to stay away from the keyboard!)

* * *

**EXTRA STORY:**

Now, as a way to thank you all of your continued support, I'm including what was supposed to be the pilot chapter of a humour Initial D fanfiction which I never knew how to finish and therefore I never published it:

**Initial D: Battle Stage **

I got this idea from two users of the Initial D World's Forums who were discussing what it would be like if we imagined what the cars thought while racing each other, so all the credit for this crazy idea goes to them.

**AE86 VS FD3S Takumi vs Keisuke:**

The Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86 was, as usual, made take the corners at an insanely high speed by its equally insane driver Takumi Fujiwara when, all of a sudden, it saw a yellow thingy blocking its way down Mt Akina.

'Hey you! Get out of the way, this is MY road!' the AE86 exclaimed.

'What are you talking about? This is a public road!' the yellow thingy had the cheek to reply.

'Not at this time of the morning, it isn't. I'll say it again: out of my way!'

At this point, the yellow thingy was actually able to see the car it was speaking to:

'What the fuck: it's an AE86! Un-freaking-believable!'

The AE86, offended, said:

'Yes, I'm an AE86, so what?'

'So what? I'm an FD3S, I'm Japan's best cornering machine. I can't believe I'm even wasting fuel talking to something as ridiculously underpowered as you!' the yellow thingy said, laughing its exhaust off.

I'll show you underpowered, the AE86 thought and, just as the FD3S thought it would never see the much older car ever again, it saw as the AE86's headlights reflected on its rear view mirror.

'What the fuck?'

It didn't have time to say nor think anything else for its driver, Keisuke Takahashi, thinking that the secondary turbine was no longer working, started pushing the poor FD3S as far as its rotary engine could go.

Nevertheless and despite all that effort, the AE86 overtook the yellow thingy with a flashy drifting maneuver which left the poor FD3S with its front bumper hanging wide open.

'No way! Keisuke, I think we've just seen a ghost!' the yellow thingy said, its entire bodywork shaking with fear.

Meanwhile, the AE86 carried on its descent squinted its headlights and muttered to itself:

'Youngsters these days…'


End file.
